Alexis Montesdeoca, Regional Director for the Canary Islands for Rhenus Road Freight Spain, analyses for Tribuna de Canarias the more than 40 years of experience we have accumulated operating in the archipelago and gives his vision of the logistical peculiarities of this region.
Grupo Rhenus offers a variety of highly qualified services and solutions along the entire supply chain. What is your role in the logistics sector in the Canary Islands?
Our vocation is to act as a bridge to connect the flow of goods between the Canary Islands, the Iberian Peninsula and the rest of the world. We have specialised as logistics operators in the Canary Islands since 1982 and over these more than 40 years of experience we have accumulated the experience, the infrastructure, the fleet, the human team and the most suitable services to meet the demands of an island and outermost territory, in which logistics takes on added complexity and is a crucial element for companies and society as a whole.
What advantages does the Rhenus Group offer companies in the Canary Islands in terms of transport, storage, inventory management and other logistics services?
We have become the logistics partner of the Canary Islands because we provide a comprehensive solution to all transport, storage and customs needs that arise throughout the entire supply chain of our customers and with complete coverage throughout the archipelago. This response capacity provides great reliability to companies, who value the fact that their goods are always in our hands, thanks to our own structure, both at origin and destination, as we have our own offices in Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote and Fuerteventura, Lanzarote and Fuerteventura, which are equipped with bonded warehouses.
Furthermore, a distinctive advantage of Rhenus is that we are a strategic partner for companies. We provide them with a range of high added value services tailored to each client, whether through temperature-controlled transport for sensitive sectors such as food and pharmaceuticals, or through customised warehousing services, inventory management, express shipments or customs processing.
How do you adapt your services to the geographical and regulatory particularities of the Canary Islands to guarantee efficient and effective logistics?
Our adaptation to the particularities of the Canary Islands is based on a combination of local experience and structure with the global support of a network with international reach. We are familiar with the geographical complexities and commercial flows of the archipelago, characterised by the importance of peninsular imports, in order to respond to these challenges in the most effective way. With this objective in mind, the transport routes we have designed for the Canary Islands offer total coverage on an international scale, with the mainland, within the archipelago itself and within each of the islands. On the other hand, it is true that the regulatory aspect is another very unique component of traffic with the Canary Islands and can represent an added difficulty for logistics operations. At Rhenus, we have a team of experts in Canary Islands tax and customs regulations, and we have always been committed to integrating the processing of these procedures into the transport and storage value chain, acting as the sole interlocutor for companies throughout the entire supply chain.Our aim is to simplify all the complexities involved in logistics with the Canary Islands.
What measures does the Rhenus Group take to promote sustainability and efficiency in its logistics operations in the Canary Islands?
Sustainability is a fundamental pillar in everything we do at Rhenus Road Freight Spain. We have a very ambitious roadmap that we are promoting through a wide range of initiatives, from the adoption of environmentally friendly fuels to the most innovative technological systems that we test around the world to see the concrete results they bring us, both in terms of emissions savings and operational efficiency.
What innovative technologies and tools do you use in your logistics services in the Canary Islands to improve traceability and supply chain management?
The group is fully committed to technology because it has a direct impact on our competitiveness, that of our customers and, of course, also on the environment. In recent years, Rhenus has made decisive progress towards the digitisation of logistics processes and the elimination of paper in its dealings with our customers, by means of a wide range of solutions that allow for greater agility, fewer errors and more transparency. These tools will change and new ones will emerge to replace the current ones, but we are very clear that our will is to drive the great technological transformation that logistics is undergoing.
What is Rhenus' vision for the future development of logistics in the Canary Islands and what are the projects or initiatives in which it is involved in the region?
We are ambitious because we want to grow alongside Canary Islands companies and we firmly believe in the business fabric of the archipelago. We are going to offer them logistics solutions wherever they need us, in the import and export of their goods.
For example, the latest data for 2023 from the Canary Islands Statistics Institute show a correction in export volumes, but imports from the rest of Spain have risen to 80.3% of all Canary Islands imports. In any scenario, we are a key partner for the logistical connectivity of the Canary Islands economy.
Our objective in the Canary Islands is to continue to focus on innovation, sustainability and quality of service. The integration of technological solutions, which are more environmentally efficient, will allow us to anticipate market needs and provide better services. This is the main argument with which we hope to continue to exercise our logistics leadership in the Canary Islands.
