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As we approach the end of this significant year, we would like to take a moment of reflection and share our evolution in the Maghreb market over the last 12 months 

We close the year with a figure that pleases us: more than 17,500 crossings through the Gibraltar Strait, connecting Europe and the Maghreb. This milestone not only represents an increase in our activity, but also consolidates, one more year, our solid presence in North Africa.

 

Sustained growth and strong presence in North Africa

Since more than two decades, Calsina Carré has been forging a history in the Maghreb market. Our development in the region has not only been a business growth, but a partnership based on trust and collaboration with local communities. Our commitment to excellence and trustworthiness has been the driving force behind our continued growth in North Africa.

Calsina Carré Maghreb currently has a local team of more than 250 people distributed between two sites, Morocco and Tunisia, and operates its own fleet of more than 350 vehicles. This year 2023 we opened a new office in Algeciras as a strategic reinforcement point, for greater efficiency and control of our daily departures from its port to the African continent, specifically to Tangier.

 

Looking to the future: New logistic projects and sustainability

Our big commitment for the new year is the opening of a new logistics warehouse in Tangier, a significant step towards the strengthening and expansion of our operations in the region. We are in the process of full construction of this new logistics centre, which is going to have as its main objective the development and improvement of our operational capabilities, providing our customers an integral and optimised service.

This warehouse will be the epicentre of our operations in the region, designed to facilitate an efficient and coordinated goods flow. Tangier Automotive City strategic location positions it as a key point for cross-border trade and logistics. 

Another major commitment for the present and future in North Africa is sustainability. In addition to reducing our emissions with each crossing, this year we have expanded our Moroccan fleet, adding Euro6 units and contributing in this way to a more environmental friendly transport. Furthermore, our challenge for 2024 involves the strategic expansion of our maritime routes, seeking sea highway routes for longer distances, in order to optimise logistical efficiency and minimise our environmental footprint. This approach reflects our commitment to sustainable transport and responds to the growing need for logistics solutions that balance efficiency with environmental responsibility.

By the end of 2022, Calsina Carré presented an ambitious new project, placing the facilities of its Pont de Molins headquarters available to external carriers. The project was born out of the company's vision and commitment to cover a need in the sector: the lack of decent and safe infrastructures for carriers and, consequently, the shortage of drivers. The so-called Calsina Carré Services is a logistics hub that provides quality services to the driver and the vehicle throughout its journey, ensuring the highest safety standards: video-monitored parking, gas station, car wash, showers, tire replacement, etc.

Less than a year after its official opening, we have committed again to this logistics hub, expanding the parking lot by an additional 26,000 m², in order to meet the increasing daily number of vehicles, which currently exceeds 2,000. 

 

This year, we had the pleasure to participate in the TransLogistica Romania exhibition, which was held in Bucharest. During this exceptional event, our team joined the main players in the transport and logistics industry to present our innovative solutions and connect with potential customers and strategic partners.

TransLogistica Romania is a key platform in Central and Eastern Europe to give visibility to our Romanian subsidiary, European Logistics. In Romania, specifically in Pitesti and Arad, Calsina Carré has offices, a cross-docking warehouse and a parking lot to reinforce its operations in the area. With a local team of more than 30 people and 350 drivers, European Logistics has been our strategic support in Central and Eastern Europe since 2008.

This year, we attended the event with our own stand, showcasing our road and intermodal transport solutions in Eastern Europe, as well as our connection with the rest of Europe and all the way to the Maghreb. It has been a good opportunity to strengthen ties in this area and to highlight the potential of our Romanian site.

We would like to thank all the customers, partners and industry players who visited our stand and interacted with our team. See you soon Bucharest!

On September 8, a devastating earthquake of magnitude 6.8 hit Morocco, devastating cities and towns near the Atlantic mountains and destroying the center and suburbs of Marrakech. A tragedy that has left more than 2,500 deaths. Our hearts go out to all the people affected by this natural disaster that has caused immense suffering in poor communities.

After receiving this terrible news, Calsina Carré responded quickly by placing its resources at their disposal to send from Spain and Morocco essential materials, packaged food and clothing to the most affected areas. In this moment of crisis, collaboration and solidarity are crucial. We would like to express our sincere gratitude to all the people, associations and institutions that trusted Calsina Carré to make this act of humanitarian aid possible. Without their support, our mission would not have been possible. We have worked together with local authorities and organizations and provided our know-how to coordinate the shipments in the most efficient way.

We would especially like to highlight the involvement and effort of the Calsina Carré team who worked tirelessly to coordinate the logistics, as well as our members and volunteers who physically assisted in helping to load the solidarity supplies into the trucks; their dedication and solidarity have been inspiring.

Calsina Carré has been present in Morocco for over two decades and we have had the privilege of being part of this beautiful nation and working closely with its people. This tragedy affects us deeply, therefore, with active involvement we do everything in our power to contribute and provide support to the Moroccan community.

In these difficult times, we remind that solidarity and mutual support are the values that bring us together as a society. Stay strong Morocco!

Adapted vans for textile transport: A mainstay for the fashion industry

The transport of large volumes of garments is essential for the distribution of large textile manufacturers. This type of transport must be flexible, suitable and have the capacity to adapt to different load volumes. Garments are a type of goods that require very careful and efficient transportation to maintain product quality and meet the demands of an ever-changing industry.

Calsina Carré has identified this need in the market and has decided to invest in the textile sector by expanding its fleet with vans adapted for this type of transport. These vans are one of the most efficient and practical solutions for transporting garments by road, as they are specifically designed to hang garments inside them. They also offer numerous benefits for the supply chain, improving product protection and increasing operational efficiency.

Which are the benefits of the adapted garment hanging vans?

1. Maximum protection of garments: When using adapted garment hanging vans, garments travel suspended on hangers, minimizing the risk of wrinkles, scratches or damage during transport.
2. Increased load capacity: They allow us to optimize interior space, which increases load capacity compared to other transportation methods that involve folding garments into boxes. This enables us to transport more garments in a single trip, reducing costs and carbon footprint.
3. Facilitates sorting and distribution: The adapted vans are designed with hanging bars and systems that allow for efficient organization and sorting of garments. This speeds up their distribution to different destinations.
4. Optimization of delivery time: The time required to prepare garments prior to shipment is reduced, as there is no need to individually fold each item. In addition, the ease of loading and unloading speeds up logistics processes in general, which translates into faster deliveries and meeting deadlines.

To consolidate this commitment, Calsina Carré has an important operational support in Porto: Calsina Carré Portugal. Portugal has a long tradition in the textile and clothing industry. This accumulated experience has positioned this country as an European reference in textile manufacturing and many of the European textile manufacturers are located in this area. This strategic location facilitates the transport and distribution of textile products to European countries, resulting in shorter delivery times, without intermediaries and with a greater capacity to respond to market demands.

 

The International Logistics Exhibition (SIL) in Barcelona is one of the most important and outstanding events in the logistics sector in Southern Europe. As we do every year, we participated as exhibitors in this meeting with professional players from the transport, logistics, intralogistics and supply chain sectors. An event that promotes the growing and development of this activity, locally as well as globally.

This new edition was even more special and eagerly awaited, since the fair was celebrating its 25th anniversary. It was also a success, closing the three days with record numbers of more than 15,000 visitors. 

Calsina Carré had a great presence at this edition. In addition to having its own stand as it does every year, with its team on site, it also gained visibility in the general framework of the fair:

Our CEO, Alba Carré, received an award in recognition of Calsina Carré's support and loyalty as one of SIL's most outstanding collaborators throughout its 25-year history.

Furthermore, we had the pleasure to participate in SIL Knowledge, a space for conferences, round tables and activities related to current challenges and emerging trends in the industry. Alba Carré, was one of the speakers at the round table "Lean & Green: Innovation and Keys to Sustainable Logistics" organised by AECOC. On the other hand, our traffic director, Pere Carbonés, also attended as a speaker at the round table about "New Masses and Dimensions of Vehicles in Transport" organised by the Spanish Shippers' Association.

On the second day Alba Carré was also invited to the "Women in Logistics Networking Cocktail" which was held on the occasion of the fair's 25th anniversary, to highlight the value of women entrepreneurs in the sector.

The evaluation of those three intense days of the current edition is very positive, as once again this year, we had the chance to give visibility and reinforce our brand image, as well as making new contacts and networking. We managed to meet up again with clients and also established new business relationships.

We also consider that SIL is not only an exhibition fair, as it enriches us with the conference and seminar programme where we can discuss the latest trends and advances in the logistics field.

We leave the fair feeling closer to our customers and collaborators, and also satisfied with the new relationships established. It was an absolute pleasure to reconnect with all the sector's professionals. 

The Transport Logistics trade fair in Munich, held every two years, is known as the most important event in the area of transport and logistics in Europe. As an international company in the sector, we consider this an outstanding opportunity to present our innovative solutions and strengthen our connections to existing and potential customers from all over the world.

This 2023 edition gathered a wide range of professionals, experts, and leading companies in the sector, creating a dynamic atmosphere favorable for the exchange of ideas and the exploration of new opportunities. 

Calsina Carré chose to be present in two different locations: sharing a stand with Port de Barcelona to promote our transport and logistics solutions, and alongside the ESPORG stand to present our new intralogistics hub of services for drivers and external carriers: Calsina Carré Services.

On our Calsina Carré Transport & Logistics stand, we were honored to welcome current customers and new contacts who might be interested in our services. We were able to interact face-to-face with visitors from all over the world, share our experience and knowledge, and establish solid business relationships. During our participation, our main goal was to show efficient, sustainable, and technologically advanced solutions. Moreover, we highlighted our green commitment to future rail transport as well as the traceability of cargo and service customization that our own software allows us to offer.

The fair also gave us the opportunity to present our new openings: Calsina Carré Portugal, as well as our new logistics warehouse in Morocco. 

At our Calsina Carré Services stand, we were able to connect with potential transporters and customers of our logistics hub in Pont de Molins, a powerful hub due to its strategic location close to the French border and on the Mediterranean Corridor. Due to the ESPORG shelter, we gained visibility for secure parking networks in Europe, and we were able to connect closely with professionals in the sector of quality services and secure resting areas for transport drivers.

Calsina Carré's participation in the Transport Logistics exhibition in Munich in 2023 was a success. We are delighted to have strengthened our position in Europe and to have established promising business relationships with international customers. In addition, the exchange of ideas and experiences with other professionals gave us valuable insight into emerging trends and best practices in our industry.

We start a new adventure with great enthusiasm and future expectations. We are opening a new Calsina Carré office in Portugal, specifically in the region of Oporto: Calsina Carré Portugal.

Why are we expanding to Portugal?

 

The Portuguese market plays an important role in the textile and automotive industries, two sectors in which we have a strong presence and which we want to continue to develop and dedicate resources to optimize our operations. We have to take into account that Portugal is the third country in Europe that carries out more road transport in the automotive industry, therefore it is a location where we want to be present with our own fleet and facilities. On the other hand, Portugal has historically been a reference in the textile sector, and today it continues to be the main one. The country concentrates a lot of production intended for reference companies such as, for example, Inditex. At Calsina Carré, we are strongly committed to diversification and we are investing in all the necessary resources to improve our presence in these sectors.

Our location in Portugal will offer us a better knowledge of the market and will allow us to provide more capacity as well as more flexibility in our service to customers. It will also help us to explore the flows and opportunities that the country can offer us at an international level towards Europe

It is important to highlight that Portugal will provide additional flow volume for Calsina Carré Maghreb, a market in which we are in full expansion. It will also give us greater flexibility in our existing operations, which have very tight transit times. For the time being, our main connection with Morocco will continue to be Tangier-Algeciras and for the connections from Portugal to Europe, we will promote intermodality whenever possible.

Again this year, we have attended the reference fair of transport and logistics sector in France. A great event that takes place every year in Paris and brings together more than 24,000 professionals from the transport and logistics industry to give visibility to the latest market developments to manufacturers and distributors.

Over the course of three days, we had the opportunity to present our solutions in an optimal professional environment to meet potential customers, strengthen ties with our French customers and reconnect with partners and suppliers.

It was an interesting meeting to be up to date on trends and developments in the field of transport and logistics and to connect with other players in the sector. 

We are glad to have been able to share our services with new customers interested in importing into France, since we are specialists in transport connecting Spain and France. We have a large volume of exports in France, therefore we are also able to offer quality imports. We currently cover more than 1,500 trips per month in France with daily departures, our own fleet and our own resources.

We would like to highlight the relevance of having added visibility to our commitment to green transport; the intermodal service. We currently perform 400 train departures per month to France. Thanks to this modality, we reduce CO2 emissions by more than 1,000 kg per trip. At SITL, we were able to reconnect and strengthen ties with our partners, the rail operators who ensure those more sustainable journeys.

Consequently, our presence at this meeting was essential, given France remains, to this day, our main market. We leave SITL Paris satisfied with our work and we celebrate that despite the riots that occurred during these dates in Paris, the fair has been able to run smoothly and has enjoyed a regular attendance.