Express and freight company Azkar has opened a EUR 5.5 million new logistics platform atAmorebieta, near Bilbao, further expanding its capacity in northern Spain.
The 12,800 sqm platform, which has 17 HGV and 12 light vehicle loading bays, is its fourthfacility in the Basque province of Vizcaya and 12th in the Basque region as a whole. The otherVizcaya centres are at Usánsolo, Trápaga and Bilbao Airport.
Initially, the Bilbao centre will provide services to customers in the industrial sector,
principally food and household appliances, said Azkar, and will make 120,000 deliveries thisyear.
It will distribute throughout the Basque country, Cantabria, La Rioja and Navarra, as well asto Burgos, employ 200 people and dispose of a fleet of 90 vehicles. The platform is an hour’s truckdrive from Azkar’s international platform at San Sebastian, the point of departure for routes toEurope.
Azkar has been investing and expanding significantly in Spain during the past few months,opening a EUR 2.6 million, 8,400 sqm new logistics centre in Zaragoza in December to serve the IT,ceramics, drinks and toy industries’ transportation needs across the Iberian peninsula.
And the company also recently opened two new distribution centres at Zubieta, in the Basqueprovince of Guipúzcoa, and in Murcia on the east coast, at a combined cost of EUR 5.6 million.
Earlier this month, it bought Barcelona-based freight forwarder Boss Continental to developits air and sea freight business and improve customs clearance capabilities.
The Spanish carrier, which also delivers in Asia as well as across Europe, now has 85installations in Spain and Portugal on over 1.1 million sq m of land (640,000 sqm of warehouses andoffices). It employs 5,000 workers and has a total fleet of more than 2,200 vehicles, one of thelargest international logistics operators in Iberia.
