State of the logistics industry in Spain

Filed in archive Research on November 16, 2008

IESE, one of the most respected Business Schools globally and also in its homeland Spain, recently published a report as the "Barometer of Logistics in Spain" which included the result of more than 130 interviews with logistics managers in Spanish companies and the summary of the state of logistics in the country.

Some interesting points which might give some ideas about state of the Spanish market are the followings:

- The logistics market in Spain is growing and, similar to EU which has 2.8 percent growth rate and 7000 employees working in Logistics Management area, is absorbing new resources year over year.

- Road transport still remains the main mode of transport; however, the potential of the railway network is one of the aspects that is considered as the next alternative as the government is making heavy investments in this area.

- Fuel prices, like many other regions, is one of the main concerns & the high price of petrol may, in fact, push companies to reassess their distribution networks out of the necessity to reduce logistical costs. Therefore, some systems, such as "warehouse on wheels" (WOW) or "just in time" (JIT), which might have made sense under a different set of conditions, have lost some of their appeal.

- And finally the main current challenges the authors mention is that transport costs have jumped 50 percent in the past three years (2005-2008), mainly due to the higher price of petrol, road tolls and taxes related to environmental protection. These challenges are also associated with more road congestion, lack of capacity and the growing complexity of logistical activities will also influence the future.