All Spain articles – Page 4
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FeatureSeat renews rail deal at Martorell
Spanish carmaker Seat has signed a new, three-year contract with Autometro to transport vehicles by rail from its Martorell plant to the port of Barcelona for export.Operating since 2008, the service run by Catalonia’s regional railway FGC transports an average of 105,000 vehicles a year.Under the renewed contract, several technical ...
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FeatureEnergising the synergising
Renault and Nissan began their wide-ranging alliance and set up cross-shareholdings in each other back in 1999, and since then Daimler, Avtovaz and most recently Mitsubishi have also become part of this evolving structure. Numerous shared vehicle platforms, manufacturing and logistics operations and back-office functions have been developed. Furthermore, impressive ...
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FeatureVW starts making Seat Tarraco at Wolfsburg
Spanish carmaker Seat, part of the VW Group, has begun producing its Tarraco SUV on assembly lines at VW’s Wolfsburg factory – the first time in 20 years a non-VW vehicle has been built at the plant in northern Germany.Designed and developed in Barcelona, the Tarraco is built on the ...
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FeatureSpanish stevedoring reform runs into trouble
Reform of Spain’s port stevedoring sector has run into trouble, after disputes over the changes at the port of Barcelona and continuing question-marks over its legality at EU level.In an attempt to satisfy EU directives, Spain’s former stevedoring companies (known as Sageps) are being replaced by so-called Port Employment Centres ...
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FeatureTesting times
The start of September this year marked the point at which all new car registrations in the EU had to comply with the new CO2 emissions test – the Worldwide Harmonised Light Vehicle Test Procedure (WLTP). This laboratory test is designed to introduce more realistic and stricter criteria when assessing ...
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FeatureVW Group highlights gains from making Audi A1 in Spain
Volkswagen Group has said it expects substantial logistics benefits to follow, now that it is producing the new-look Audi A1 in Seat’s Martorell factory in Spain.“[It] joins Seat vehicles in most distribution transport flows, which enables us to achieve cost and lead time synergies, both for Seat and Audi,” Seat ...
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FeatureEuropean ro-ro providers to gain from Africa interest
Grimaldi says Chinese investment in ro-ro services in North Africa is more of a threat than an opportunity for European operators
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FeatureEU workers are key: don't close the UK's door
According to the Department for Transport’s official statistics, more goods were imported by road into the UK than exported last year, with 10,000 lorries making their way through Dover Strait per day alone. Up to 86% of cargo exported from the UK went to the Irish Republic (23%), France (22%), ...
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FeatureSantander improves ro-ro connections with Zeebrugge
The twice-weekly CldN ro-ro service linking Santander in Spain, Rotterdam in the Netherlands and Leixões in Portugal is to be divided into two distinct services. It is hoped the move will help increase the number of semi-trailers being carried by around 10,000 units a year.In future, Santander will have two ...
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FeatureSpanish authorities impose fines at Vigo
Spain’s National Commission for Markets and Competition (CNMC) has imposed fines on five stevedoring companies and five port unions for colluding to restrict competition at the port of Vigo and keep prices unnaturally high.The CNMC said their collusion had prevented the loading and unloading of finished vehicles from vessels other ...
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FeatureSeat debuts duo trailer
Spanish OEM Seat and transport provider Grupo Sesé have begun to pilot a double trailer truck combination to see if it can reduce the cost of delivering inbound components by a quarter.The double trailer approach could help reduce the number of large trucks on the road by 50%, which implies ...
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FeatureFord uses motion tracking to improve workstations
Ford is using motion tracking technology on workers at its Almussafes plant, in Spain, to help it design less physically stressful workstations on the production line. The OEM said the goal was to reduce worker injuries while making the workstations more efficient and improving manufacturing quality.In a pilot project, workers ...
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FeatureAnfac study downgrades port logistics in Spain
The Spanish automotive manufacturers’ association, Anfac, has just released its annual Maritime Port Logistics Grading study, which identifies Santander (pictured), Sagunto and Pasajes ports as currently the best for vehicle processing in Spain.One of the significant conclusions of the report, however, is that the overall grading for port logistics declined ...
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FeatureVW to add second model at Navarra
Volkswagen is planning to make the new T-Cross compact SUV at its Navarra plant, following an investment of around €1 billion ($1.17 billion).The addition of the T-Cross will potentially raise output at the plant from 244,000 units in 2017 to around 350,000 a year and increase the workforce by about ...
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FeatureGefco expands services in Spain
Gefco has expanded its operations in Spain with the opening of a new distribution centre near Ford’s Almussafes plant on the outskirts of Valencia and the extension of its spare parts logistics centre in Santa Fe.From the 3,500 sq.m distribution centre, which is located in Sollana, Gefco will be carrying ...
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FeatureGefco and Bergé join forces in Spain
Gefco is setting up a joint venture with Spanish logistics provider Bergé to strengthen finished vehicle operations in Spain. The new company will be called Bergé Gefco and combine the fleets and resources of both companies’ divisions in the country to offer customers a complete range of finished vehicle services, ...
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FeatureA match made in heaven?
According to a study carried out by the European Commission in 2014, almost a quarter of truck journeys on Europe’s roads are carried out empty. In individual member states, the prevalence of empty running can be even higher: in the UK, for instance, Department for Transport (DfT) statistics put the ...
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FeatureEmissions legislation set to disrupt vehicle logistics
European legislation aimed at achieving more accurate monitoring of emissions from passenger cars could cause disruption to logistics operations involving the storage and delivery of new vehicles, the Association of European Vehicle Logistics (ECG) has warned. As manufacturers phase out non-compliant older models, dealers are looking to sell existing stock ...
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FeatureNYK sets up direct service between Europe and South America
Ro-ro line NYK has set up a direct monthly service for ocean vehicle shipments from Europe to South America.The first departure left the port of Bremerhaven, Germany, on May 19 before calling at the Belgian port of Zeebrugge. Cargo from Spain is also being taken on-board by NYK through several ...
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FeatureTurkish exports continue to rise
Turkey’s automotive exports have risen 17% so far this year to reach a value of $13.9 billion, fresh figures from the Uludağ Automotive Industry Exporters' Association (OİB) have shown.In May – the country’s 28th month of continuous automotive export growth – automotive exports were worth $2.8 billion, up 8% on ...