Source: Alimarket 28/01/2025
The strategy of Carreras Grupo Logístico maintains a clear roadmap, with consumer logistics installed as its main line of business and refrigerated or chill temperature acting as a shining engine of growth. This is confirmed by the company, highlighting the beginning of its collaboration with new customers in the chill temperature range, such as Choví, Majao or Casa Taradellas, which join such powerful names as Mondelez, with which it had already been collaborating in that range both in Spain and Portugal. It is also evident in the systematic incorporation of this temperature in all projects to expand its logistics and fleet capacities. We have been observing this both in the acquisition of new vehicles in its capillary and long-distance fleet in various temperature ranges, a chapter in which it expresses the commitment to acquire 160 new units in 2025, and in the bulk of the upcoming warehouse openings, which include the three temperatures, to add an additional 2,500 m2 of refrigerated storage over the next few months. reaching a total of 10,000 m2.
These inaugurations and extensions in development over the next few months will take place in Valladolid, Zaragoza and Valencia. Following a chronological order in its entry into activity, the first project to see the light of day will be the expansion of its warehouse in Valencia, available from next August, once it incorporates 10,000 m2 new, to add a total of 27,000 m2, plus another 10,000 m2 of field for outdoor storage. A month later, in September, an additional warehouse for mass consumption will come into operation in Valladolid, which will have 15,000 m2 and will work in 3 temperatures (ambient, ISO and refrigerated). Finally, in November, Carreras will have the expansion of its facilities in Zaragoza, which will incorporate an additional 10,000 m2 and also the three temperatures, to add a total of 44,000 m2 dedicated to mass consumption. Also in Zaragoza, the company has built 30,000 m2 for truck parking in PLAZA, an area that will be ready in March.
First conversational logistics software project using AI
The chapter on asset development projects is completed with the aforementioned acquisition of owned vehicles, in order to have one of the most powerful fleets in the sector, with the capacity to face the growing shortage of self-employed and small companies in the outsourcing market, which is, year after year, a pressing problem. And strong investments are also being made in strengthening its systems, digitalization and sustainability. In these areas, the efforts in development in energy efficiency in their centers, in renewable fuels and in R+D projects that have allowed them to achieve the 3rd star ‘lean and green’, among other recognitions, or the continuity in the digitalization of all their processes and in the adoption of technologies, in collaboration with leading companies in the technology sector such as Microsoft, stand out. IBM and others.
A good example of this would be their advances in data management, a field in which they have developed a robust data architecture that, they explain, allows them to manage their data accurately through powerful tools such as Power BI. Another example would be the application of artificial intelligence, which they are using to optimize various flows and processes, such as lines and capillary transport, as well as integrating generative AI into their management systems, such as in the IT development process. A notable milestone would be the development of the first conversational logistics software project using generative AI integrated into its TBO application, to interact with its systems through a chat.
Carreras closes 2024 growing by 6.8% in turnover
Effervescent activity, as we are seeing, which has also been reflected in the positive evolution of Carreras’ turnover in recent years. At the end of 2024, it achieved net sales of €390 million, with a growth of 6.8% compared to 2023, of which 88% are generated through its activity in consumer logistics. The company offers a positive reading of the evolution of the year, highlighting that “we have strengthened our leadership position and continue to grow while improving our processes to provide an increasingly efficient response to our customers, all in a very complicated context, in which a certain slowdown in consumption is detected at certain times of the year and the generalized increase in costs and the lack of qualified professionals in the sector”. The company has closed 2024 with 48 logistics platforms, totalling approximately 700,000 m2, also controlling a fleet of around 1,100 vehicles.
Looking ahead to 2025, the unknowns around the behaviour of consumption in Spain and the tensions and economic slowdown of very relevant actors within the EU appear in his speech, which mean that international flows have been reduced, making it difficult to manage efficient and sustainable circuits, but also a high degree of security is transmitted in the roadmap drawn up. with the aim of responding to these uncertainties and strengthening the company’s competitiveness.
