Your logistics link with the Balearic Islands starts here
We are experts in transporting goods to and from the archipelago
Get in touch with usLast year, the Balearic Islands led the growth ranking of the Spanish economy, boosted by tourism and exports. The archipelago closed 2022 with a record in tourist spending and with the best historical data in its sales abroad, which means that both activities are playing a leading role as levers for the economic reactivation of the Balearic Islands. Behind the success of these results, however, the contribution of the logistics sector remains relatively unnoticed. Logistics is increasingly being used as a fundamental concept to explain the competitiveness of the Balearic Islands.
How did logistics contribute to tourism leadership in the Balearic Islands?
1.2 million people live in the Balearic Islands, but in the summer months the population doubles to 2 million. Overall in 2022, 16.4 million tourists stayed in accommodation in Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza and Formentera, and this enormous influx represents a logistical challenge to meet the increase in demand.
Logistics has become a vitally important factor in the Balearic Islands, where supply capacity is put to the test every summer. From food and drink to everyday consumer goods, an efficient and flexible supply chain is essential to meet the needs of residents and tourists. The ability to anticipate and manage this increase in demand, coordinating the flows of goods and ensuring the availability of products, is a key logistical challenge faced constantly by this region.
Added to this situation is the geographical singularity of the Balearic Islands and the complexity that logistics represents in an archipelago. "A first aspect to take into account is the dependence on maritime and air transport with the Iberian Peninsula, especially imports from the rest of Spain, which requires great specialization in these traffic flows in order to anticipate demand and respond to the increase in consumption,” explains Andreu Gutiérrez, Country Sales Director Road, Rhenus Logistics, Spain.
The Balearic Islands Statistics Institute (Ibestat) provides highly interesting data that highlights the importance of traffic originating in the rest of Spain. The latest data, relating to 2019, show a volume of almost 7.5 million tons in this direction, while the transport of the Balearic Islands bound for the peninsula is limited to 0.83 million tons, barely 10% of the flow between the two territories.
Evolution of exports and imports of the Balearic Islands with the rest of Spain
Logistics competitiveness for exports of the Balearic Islands
Foreign trade plays a key role in the growth of the Balearic Islands. During 2022, exports have risen 45.3% and imports 64.91%. This data demonstrates the business dynamism and vitality of the Balearic Islands’ trade, and also the competitiveness that logistics is providing to triple its sales abroad in the last decade.
Evolution of international exports and imports of the Balearic Islands.
The data provided by the Inland Revenue also shows the diversification of the export and import trade of the Balearic Islands, both by type of product and markets. In the type of exported goods, there is a notable leadership of semi-manufactured goods, a segment that includes chemical products, the most exported goods from the Balearic Islands. For their part, capital goods lead imports, driven in 2022 by purchases related to the aeronautical sector.
What do the Balearic Islands export to and import from the rest of the world?
The analysis of the destination of the Balearic Islands' goods shows the dominance of European countries, with the exception of the United States in the ranking of the top 10 export markets. Imports, however, show a much more global vision: The United States is the first source of goods, while China and Algeria are in the top 10.
According to Andreu Gutiérrez, "this internationalisation of the Balearic economy is closely linked to the improvement in logistics capacity that this territory is achieving.This is a joint achievement of the administration, the Balearic Port Authority, Aena and the specialised logistics companies that work every day to get every Balearic product to where it is needed."
Main export and import countries of the Balearic Islands
| Exports | Imports | ||
| 🇩🇪 Germany | 383,08 | 🇺🇸 United States | 513,61 |
| 🇳🇱 Netherlands | 338,82 | 🇮🇹 Italy | 390,27 |
| 🇫🇷 France | 240,49 | 🇩🇪 Germany | 221,20 |
| 🇮🇹 Italy | 199,17 | 🇳🇱 Netherlands | 338,82 |
| 🇧🇪 Belgium | 151,82 | 🇨🇿 Czech Republic | 138,50 |
| 🇮🇪 Ireland | 106,63 | 🇫🇷 France | 136,84 |
| 🇵🇹 Portugal | 103,75 | 🇨🇳 China | 130,58 |
| 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | 61,62 | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | 97,04 |
| 🇺🇸 United States | 50,17 | 🇧🇪 Belgium | 58,41 |
| 🇵🇱 Poland | 39,12 | 🇩🇿 Algeria | 49,96 |
Data in millions of euros. Source: Spanish Tax Agency
Rhenus, a logistics partner for the Balearic Islands
“Rhenus has accumulated decades of experience in the transport of goods to the Balearic Islands, because we understood that all the complexity associated with the logistics of a territory like this archipelago required a specialist approach in order to ensure maximum efficiency,” states Antonio Ruano, manager of Rhenus Logistics Mallorca.
With this objective, the Rhenus Group has established itself as a trusted logistics partner in the Balearic Islands. “We understand the unique logistical challenges faced by companies in this region and have developed agile transport solutions in the archipelago, with the peninsula and internationally in order to respond to fluctuations in demand during the tourist season and the efficient management of the export and import flows,” points out Antonio Ruano.
In addition to this experience, Rhenus has its own offices in Ibiza and Palma de Mallorca, a transport network that guarantees connections to all the islands and a fleet of vehicles that allows it to carry out shipments in the interior of these territories.
Andreu Gutiérrez also points to the international structure as another important requirement for a logistics partner operating in the Balearic Islands.
"The Balearic Islands are a territory that depends heavily on imports from the mainland and increasingly on international exports. For this reason, Balearic logistics cannot be limited to this area, because the chain starts long before the goods reach the archipelago and can end up at a destination thousands of kilometres away," says the Country Sales Director Road of Rhenus Logistics in Spain.
What services does Rhenus Group provide in the Balearic Islands?
● Branch office in Ibiza and Palma de Mallorca.
● National coverage and international service with Europe and Asia.
● FTL daily service, FCL, import and export.
● Distribution throughout Mallorca and daily connection with Ibiza and Menorca.
● Daily service to Formentera.
● Vehicle fleet.
● Delivery in 24/48 hours.
● Overnight delivery service.
● Specialists in the retail and automotive sector.