The Spanish group El Mosca has invested in the new Actros 1845
Profitability and logistics
The El Mosca group aims to increase its sales by almost 25% in 2015 to 156 million euros. Its strategy? To step up its maritime transport activities while optimising the efficiency of its fleet.
"We see transport as a network," says José Antonio Hernández, Head of the El Mosca group. "Maritime transport needs land transport, and vice versa," he adds. For this reason, for three years the company has been successfully strengthening its presence in the area of maritime freight transport: this year, the company aims to generate sales worth 156 million euros compared with 125 million euros in 2014.
"The prospects are good," says José Antonio Hernández. Maritime freight transport is on the rise: in Spain, this sector posted sales of one billion euros in 2014, i.e. 2.46% up on the previous fiscal year.
With its headquarters in Molina de Segura in the Region of Murcia, the company has more than 75 years of experience in road transport. Mosca Marítimo was set up in 1992. Yet it was only in 2011 that the company really began to expand under the management of Pedro José Hernández, with the creation of an import/export department, a customs unit and a warehouse facility. This required plenty of space. Last year, El Mosca transported 40,000 TEU.
Economic efficiency — the basis for success. With an average consumption of 29 litres per 100 kilometres, the new Actros 1845 is the backbone of El Mosca's 630-vehicle fleet.
El Mosca has its own branches in Alicante, Albacete, Barcelona, Madrid, Seville and Valencia as well as in the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla, on four of the Canary Islands and on three of the Balearic Islands. The group also has agents in Germany and Peru. El Mosca recently acquired two new plots of land, one with an area of 4000 m² in Palma de Mallorca and another in Molina de Segura in the Region of Murcia with an area of 195,000 m², where a warehouse for 25,000 pallets will be built.
Logistics services on the Islands have developed into a highly profitable business: "Owing to their location and characteristics, the Islands import almost every kind of product," explains José Antonio Hernández. "In addition, their growth is constant thanks to tourism." According to data from the Canarian Institute of Statistics (Istac), the Canarian economy grew last year by almost 2%, i.e. 0.5% more than the Spanish average.
In terms of maritime transport between the Spanish peninsula and the Balearics, the group offers a door-to-door service: "Our trucks are loaded at our customers' premises and then transport the goods by road to their destination," he explains. For this, we have our own fleet of 630 vehicles, including tractor units and rigid vehicles. Many of them are from Mercedes. The head of the company gives one of the reasons for this decision: "With Mercedes-Benz, the total costs are lower."
All over the world. El Mosca plays a key role in supplying the Balearic and Canary Islands. In future, the group aims to expand its operations to the Americas and Asia.
The predominant model in his fleet is the new Actros 1845: "It impresses with not just its power, but also its reliability," explains José Antonio Hernández. The 330 kW engine "responds instantaneously to the accelerator pedal," he says. And he stresses his satisfaction with the low fuel consumption: 29 litres per 100 kilometres. "That's just what we need to optimise the economic efficiency of our fleet!"
The group also has 950 of its own semitrailers: refrigerated, curtain-sided and container semitrailers. "Maritime transport and transport on land have many things in common." As an example, he names punctuality, which is "indispensable" in either case. To transport the goods in the agreed timeframe and in the agreed manner, it is necessary to have the appropriate resources, both on land and at sea. The group works together with the main shipping companies that offer services between the Spanish peninsula and the Balearic and Canary Islands. Yet El Mosca is not just a national operator. The group also offers international maritime transportation services, both eastbound — mainly China — and westbound — South America, Central America and North America.
"How do we see the future? We'd like to continue to grow and further expand," says José Antonio Hernández. "We're no longer just a transport company, we've transformed into a logistics service provider. We're ready for the next step," he concludes.
Photos: Begoña Tremps de Pablo
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