From 1 February, Belgian groupage specialist Transuniverse Forwarding will rely on a new agent in Portugal to handle distribution in that country, namely Torrestir. “With this exclusive partnership, we can cover the country more finely from now on. An additional benefit is an improvement in tracking shipments thanks to automated data traffic,” says Operations Director Jo Vormezeele.
Portugal is an important destination for Transuniverse, with daily departures to Porto and Lisbon. “Our sector is evolving. Customers not only demand higher departure frequencies but also shorter transit times, including for more remote destinations. They also expect fast and accurate information on shipment status and Proof of Delivery. Torrestir, our new partner in Portugal, can meet these requirements thanks to automatic data sharing“, he adds.
Torrestir
Torrestir is one of the market leaders in the groupage and distribution sector in Portugal. Besides its headquarters in Braga, the company has no less than 16 of its own local branches. It is also at the forefront of IT, track & trace and automated information exchange. “This allows it to meet our expectations in terms of fine-meshed distribution and fast data sharing,” Jo Vormezeele adds.
Besides national distribution, Torrestir has been placing for several years more emphasis on groupage transport between Portugal and the rest of Europe . “At the beginning of last year, we entered into an exclusive partnership with the distribution network CargoLine in Germany. In addition, our network in Eastern Europe and Italy was fine tuned and enhanced. Now it is the turn of an expansion of services to and from the Benelux, through an exclusive partnership with Transuniverse,” says Helder Silva, general manager of Torrestir.
“Transuniverse and Torrestir are family-run companies that share the same values and mentality. We both also attach great importance to personalised service and a high-tech approach. This cooperation will allow us to increase frequency and service levels,” he stresses.
Daily departures
Trucks depart daily from Wondelgem for Portugal. The transit time for groupage is 5 days for the major economic centres, as previously. “For the more remote parts of the country, the transit time is now 6 days, one day less than before,” Jo Vormezeele adds.
About Torrestir
Torrestir Transitários (www.torrestir.com) was founded in 1962 and is still owned by the Torres family. It now has 16 locations in Portugal (including the islands), as well as own branches in Spain, Mozambique and Germany. In 2022, its 2,700 employees generated a turnover of € 250 million. Besides national and international general cargo and groupage transport, the group provides services in contract logistics, container transport, heavy lift and special transport, customs handling, courier services and pharmaceutical transport (GDP). It has its own fleet of some 1,600 vehicles. Torrestir focuses on the pharma and healthcare, retail, food, fashion, automotive, renewable energy and IT sectors.
