Saba Logistics Parks maintained in 2014 its commitment to managing intermodal parks tailored to the needs of its customers and located in the most strategic locations, thereby positioning the Saba brand as a benchmark in the industry and associating it with first-class quality service. A strategy for success that can beseen by the increase in average occupancy of up to 85% and the signing of 53 new contracts that have incorporated international customers.
Two operations stand out in this business activity throughout 2014. On the one hand, Saba, throughout its logistics subsidiary, Saba Parques Logísticos, and CPL, a joint project participated in by Saba (80%) and Port de Barcelona (20%), reached, in August 2014, an agreement with Prologis for the sale of its assets in Madrid -the Coslada logistics park and the land in San Fernando de Henares and Camarma de Esteruelas- and Penedès logistics park. On the other hand, in December 2014, Saba formalised a restructuring operation by which it gained control of the Parc Logístic de la Zona Franca (PLZF) in Barcelona, and became a 75% stakeholder.
The logistics parks that are part of Saba’s logistics network total near 600 hectares surface area, with a buildable area of almost three million square metres. The company operates in Spain, Portugal and France, and has facilities in Barcelona, Seville, Álava, Lisbon and Toulouse. Saba is committed to managing logistics parks in different territories with the direct partnership of different agents, combining interests towards a shared strategy.
The logistics parks Saba promotes typically offer high quality construction and functional warehouses. They use the latest techniques, thereby complying with regulations and ensuring maximum durability, safety, comfort and energy savings. They are always built in strategic locations, and are equipped with excellent access and located on large tracts of land that allow the maximum concentration of logistics companies in the same space.
Three important operations are among the new contracts:
- The agreement reached with Molenbergnatie, a leader in managing the supply chain for coffee and cocoa, to rent a surface area of 19,499 m2 in the Parc Logístic de la Zona Franca (PLZF). With this operation, the PLZF reached an occupancy rate of 88%, which confirms this logistics infrastructure as one of the most relevant an competitive in Catalonia. Molenbergnatie was already operating in the Catalan capital through its 3,700 m2 facility in the Zona d’Activitats Logístiques (ZAL), Barcelona’s intermodal logistics platform, managed by Cilsa -a company in which Saba and the Port of Barcelona are stakeholders- and is now committed to the logistics park promoted by Saba and Consorci de la Zona Franca of Barcelona. The company’s new premises consist of two buildings with an area of 13,375 m2 and 6,124 m2, respectively.
- The agreement reached with Supergroup in the ZAL Toulouse, a logistics park owned by Consorci de Parcs Logístics (CPL), a joint project of Saba Parcs Logístics and Port de Barcelona. The company, leader in the sale and distribution of food products and boosting retail channels in France, leased a new warehouse with a surface area of 6,000 m2, plus an additional 230 m2 of office space. This way Supergroup is strengthening its storage and distribution capacity intended for the south of France and, in particular, the Midi-Pyrénées region. The French company, belonging to Logista France, occupies a great part of the new 10,000 m2 building that is part of the expansion project that CPL has carried out in this park.
- The signing of a contract with Aldisca, logistics supplier for integrated solutions, for a 5-year lease for a 4,000 m2 surface area in Parc Logístic de la Zona Franca (PLZF). With this relocation, Aldisca’s goal is to improve its competitiveness and cover all logistics needs and value added services requested by its clients.
Noteworthy among contract extensions are:
- The renewal signed by Decathlon and Sevisur, manager of the ZAL Sevilla, of which Saba is a partial shareholder. The leading European company dedicated to the design, sale and distribution of sports equipment, covers an area of 30,000 m2 in this park. After eight years in the ZAL Sevilla, Decathlon has faced a strong period of growth and expansion in Spain, where it has nearly 100 stores. From the Port of Seville, the French multinational dispatches to its network of retail centres on the Iberian Peninsula, the Canary Islands, North Africa and the Middle East. The signing of this renewal reinforces the potential of the ZAL Sevilla, located in the Port of Seville, as a multimodal logistics park, with good road and rail connections; the SE30 Seville ring road, railways and river routes that, as a whole, enable local, regional, national and international distribution.
COMMITMENT TO URBAN LOGISTICS PROJECTS
The Saba Group is committed to finding solutions toimproving mobility in cities, and is continually exploring new business opportunities that combine the divisions of car parks and logistics parks. In this regard, the company is studying urban logistics initiatives or micro-distribution that take into account the current interconnected map. Therefore, Saba participates in two urban micro-distribution projects in Barcelona and Valencia that use electric tricycles.
he rise of e-commerce, which has displaced traditional direct sales, generates greater impact on urban habitats. To respond to this new problem, Saba has studied other business lines that establish collection points for e-commerce products in its car park network, always in accordance with permit-issuing administrations. In this manner, the excellent locations of the most centrally located car parks are reinforced, thereby providing them with new services.
