For 2005, md Juan Martinez forecasts a further 30% increase to 275,000 tonnes as the result of new contracts signed with exporters in Brazil, Romania and Ukraine.
Main products are aluminium billets from Mozambique and aluminium coils from Venezuela, with around 54,000 tonnes brought in a year. In addition, there is a healthy trade in iron and steel. Steel plates and profiles are handled on behalf of the local shipyard, while steel blanks, bars and coils also feature among the commodity profile handled by Vigo. In addition to the shipyard, the automotive industry also makes extensive use of terminal facilities to bring in material.
The biggest shipments of metals consignment can be anything up to 5,000 tonnes, these being alubillets from Mozambique and steel blankets from Brazil.
To house these and other metals products, the terminal has invested heavily in new warehouses and depots. Vasco Gallega has also had to develop added value services, such as full logistic solutions for maritime movements, as well as storage, distribution and Customs clearance, which are made available to production plants, traders and distributors.
In terms of equipment, spreaders, beams and forklifts have been specifically acquired for each product; there are few cross-over benefits when investing to handle such a diverse traffic spread, observes Martinez.
“Our main target for the company is to increase productivity in order to be more competitive, which is how we can boost our bottom line performance. In fact, iron and steel products are only really of interest as part of a whole service package that we sell to a client; just acting as a stevedore in the overall logistics chain would be of dubious profitability with such products, ” he notes.
To make matters worse, a lot of metals products, such as coils and billets are becoming increasingly containerised, while Vasco Gallega itself handles containerised copper and aluminium wire rods.
The terminal is investing in a new, 5,800 sq m warehouse, which is aimed squarely at handling traffic for the automotive industry, given the close presence to the dock of PSA-Citroen suppliers Benteler, Denso and Antolin.
