Intelligent warehouses on the rise.

Optimising resources, recycling materials and keeping talented employees are among the main strategies adopted by global logistics firms facing the economic downturn.

The International Logistics and Material Handling Exhibition 2009 (SIL) took place 9 to 12 June in Barcelona, with major trends including an intelligent warehouse displayed by the ICIL Foundation, based on the concept of low cost and multifunctionality. The key target is materials recycling to lower overheads.

Cardboard is the new star of the recycling process; cardboard boxes save space and pallets are now available in cardboard instead of wood. One option is to supply folded cardboard boxes to reduce occupied space - such pallets are only unfolded when in use.

Cardboard pallets save space and costs.

Spanish firm Cartonajes Font presented different packing boxes that can be piled in columns and are each resistant to heat of up to 35°C and can withstand 85% humidity (therefore highly adaptable for Asian conditions). The company also came up with isothermal cardboard boxes that allow maintenance during transport in cold weather conditions and presented self-adhesive strips to pack books, making the need for specialised boxes unnecessary.

Machines were exhibited crushing cardboard in such a way that the original material can be re-used as box lining to protect consigned goods.

Logistics warehouses based on sustainability were displayed by French multinational GSE. Since 2006 it's been working in the Optima Project, aiming to use wooden and other recyclable material as an energy source, combined with rainwater or solar energy, through the installation of photovoltaic plates.

Carrera: longer term benefits from recyclable materials.

Still, demand for such equipment is still very limited, according to Carlos Carrera, Commercial Director of GSE Spain. He explained that "companies which bet on sustainable logistics are those which are committed to the ecology of their enterprise culture."

Carrera added: "the benefits are not immediate but they are appraised over a mid- to long-term period of time, with reduction of management costs."

GSE displayed Moduloc, a system which aims to optimise the installation, mode of transport and selection of logistics materials and one that is being used in France, Germany and Poland.

Spanish market requires upgraded logistics

Spain is a good market into which to provide the latest in logistics advances, since Spanish ports and intermodal connections with the rest of the EU are high priorities of national policy, continuing to link the EU with Latin America and Asia.

Spanish market vibrant for logistics equipment.

Problems with cost of space.

But there are difficulties; the first is the economic downturn and the second is the high cost of Spanish land to accommodate logistics operations.

ACTE working in the sustainability area.

Spain's Association of Transport Centres (ACTE) is also carrying out work in the field of sustainability, informing its members on subjects like installation of photovoltaic plates, water and waste management, as well as sustainability both for merchandise and in mounting tourist operations.

That doesn't mean Spanish ports and the transport sector expect a recovery just yet: total traffic of around 450 million tonnes expected in 2009 represents about 25 million tonnes less than in 2008. This loss of activity is framed as a 17% fall in annual traffic by the fourth quarter.

Spanish merchandise export and import trades are expecting falling volumes by around 30%, year-on-year. According to figures presented at the fair, it will be necessary to wait until 2014 to regain the growth rates of 2007, when Spanish ports had a record year.

After the fair closed the business press carried opinions from different analysts, among them the specialists at Inversis Bank and Robeco Chinese Equities, both of which expressed expectations that China would lead the world out of the economic downturn.

Barcelona expected to benefit from links with Asia.

Barcelona is expected to benefit from its expertise in the logistics field and links with Asia. China is also Barcelona's top commercial customer, with some 23% of China-sourced EU container traffic transiting through the city.

As for air transport, Spanish airline Iberia had its Director commenting during SIL. Enrique Donaire explained that: "worldwide air traffic of merchandise registered a fall of 22% in revenues [in the first quarter, 2009] with forecasts for the end of the year suggesting a drop of 10%." Iberia expects to see that scenario also applying to its own operation.

But Chairman of Iberia, Fernando Conte, said a key plan will come into play between 2009 and 2011. The airline's objective is to recover yield levels and achieve greater financial stability, as well as consolidate the company's strategic routes in Europe and to Latin America. None of these can be realised with progressively lower customer demand.

"We are hopeful," said Ramón Vázquez, President of the Spanish Association of Transport Centres (ACTE). "Transport [returns] will go down by about 50% in 2009 but we are also aware that Spanish centres for transport are consolidating and that our strategies are based on real projects, so the sector is progressing well."

"We have information of more than 200 new logistics centre projects with a surface area of over 200 million sqm," set to be established, said Vázquez. "Everything seems to indicate that we have got to the bottom of the [economic] fall."

Transport is reliant on consumer demand and, therefore, the recovery will take place with a rebuilding of consumer confidence, he believed. At the moment, there is a largely idle transport fleet building up globally due to sharply lower trade activity.

Novel presentations at SIL

In the IT category, a new product consisted of a terminal on board an LXE VX9 box, a creation of the Spanish group, Alfaland Group. It has a 12 inch touch screen designed for the logistics industry and flexibility to carry out advanced commands. It operates remotely with Bluetooth capabilities.

Also offered was Datawarehouse Web, an online tool providing data and multidimensional analysis to control statistics, charts and control panels, with a monitor on sales and outgoings.

Italian firm Caen Rfid presented Easy2long, a solution for transport companies which allows the controller to monitor the temperature of products during their transit and warehousing phases. This tool meets EPC Class 1 Gen2/ISO 18000-6C and Easy2long standards and can be used in most second-generation UHF RFID ware available on the market.

Linde equipment on display.

Linde Material Handling of Germany provided visitors with an appreciation of the latest in warehouse handling equipment, including a new line of transpallets and stackers as well as its wheelbarrow Kombi, which is designed to work in refrigerating warehouses.

Spanish firm Transkal specialises in software solutions linked with the physical transport of goods, and offered two modules.

The first offering, Ofertas Spot, is a tool for forwarders and shippers to create invoices to customers, taking as its basis the suppliers' tariffs, control of commercial margins, facilitating the follow-up of offers and managing price variations, customer billings and sub-contracting arrangements.

The second module, WorkFlow, monitors accounts and tasks, aiming to supply international trading companies with a system of control devoted to operational and traffic departments.

China's exhibitors shared the same pavilion, representing six companies.

Riqian has 10 years experience.

Dandong Riqian Logistics Equipment Co Ltd based in Donggang, Qiangang Economic Development Zone, explained that the firm has more than 10 years experience in the logistics field as an equipment manufacturer, with factories based in Dandong and Dalian.

It produces warehouse and roll out containers as well as wire decking, saying its products meet international environmental protection standards. The company presented a container for liquids, which saves space and is claimed to reduce transport costs; a PVC sheet is placed inside the product enabling it to withstand temperatures from 20°C to 100°C.

The company's main European customers are from Germany, the UK and Finland. The firm wants to hire an agent in Spain to control and channel sales.

TBM the leading crane maker in China.

Another China-based firm, TBM Zhejiang Shuangniao Machinery Co Ltd, based in Shengzhou was founded in 1984 and focuses on hoisting machinery, providing the necessary research and development, design, production, supply and servicing. It's the leading crane manufacturer in China.

The company manufactures electric wire rope hoists, electric chain hoists, chain blocks, movable jib cranes and anchor chains. This was the first time the company attended the fair.

TBM's European turnover is significant, with customers in Germany, the UK, France and the Netherlands. Its prices are pitched lower than Spanish companies although with comparable standards of production.

Riqian liquid container.

Tycon roller.

Cindy Liu, Project Manager with Tycon (Fuzhou) Co Ltd said the company has five factories spread across the Mainland and although it had visions of doing business with Spanish firms, there had been few visitors at the fair interested in its offerings.

from special correspondents Isabel Herrero and
José Alarcón, Barcelona