Logistics OF THE FUTURE
Founded almost 20 years ago, Montepino Logística continues to lead the sector with more than 45% of sustained market share.
How would you describe the evolution of Montepino?
Our company was founded by my father in Zaragoza in the early 2000s, and we are a real estate developer of industrial and logistic units. We started in the development business, and in 2010, we switched the business model to turnkey projects focused on renting. We seized on the crisis period to enter the Madrid market and consolidate ourselves. During the 2008 economic crisis, there was latent demand for unsatisfied logistics areas, which allowed for the development of the new and effective logistics that exists today. In 2014, we made the first large purchase of land in Spain since the recession hit: a 120,000-sqm plot of land in Corredor del Henares in the city of Torrejon de Ardoz. We were the first to promote a new logistics area since the 2008 crisis, and we sold that asset to a foreign investment fund. In December 2015, we again became the largest buyers of land through the purchase of 250,000sqm in the industrial area municipality of Cabanillas del Campo. There, we developed 170,000sqm of logistic land, rented out 100%, and sold it to Merlin Properties. That was a commercial success. Our next milestone was in 2017, when we established with CBRE a joint venture that is today Montepino. This is a JV between both companies to develop logistic infrastructure. Our entire portfolio is made up of assets developed from scratch. Now, in 2020, our assets are valued at EUR1 billion. We did not meet the goals of the business plan; we in fact surpassed those goals by almost tripling them. This success is due to the fact that we have developed new logistics infrastructure. There is a great deal of existing industrial units for logistics; however, that old infrastructure does not meet the needs of the current logistic sector. Instead, we focus on offering new products tailored to the current needs of the logistics sector.
Montepino made the final delivery of a new logistics operations center for Luís Simões in Guadalajara. What does this project mean for the company, and what are its main characteristics?
Luís Simões required a complex project in which we had to develop three buildings, and it took us more than 2.5 years from start to finish because each building was handed over at different times. The unit of Luís Simões in Guadalajara is a pilot project in itself. We implemented solutions that did not exist in other buildings in Spain. It has an automated warehouse with a picking area for e-commerce. It has successfully introduced all the different parts of the logistics process in a single industrial unit, all combined with a traditional warehouse. It is an extremely complex project in which we worked constantly alongside with its provider of automation services, because we had to adapt the construction to the pace of the automation. Montepino has a technical in-house team of 32 workers doing only logistics, whereas our competitors have it as an outsourced service.
How has the pandemic impacted Montepino?
We have accelerated some latent projects that we were to hand over in 2022 and will now be handed over at the end of 2021 in order to meet our clients’ needs. COVID-19 had a shock that lasted for some weeks; however, we only stopped operations for the 15 days when the country was in a lockdown. After that, we continued to operate. As a matter of fact, we accelerated our construction projects, and all of them will be handed over before deadline. Meanwhile, in terms of business, COVID-19 has pushed our operations forward. All our buildings are extremely efficient for modern logistics, including automation processes for e-commerce. Modern buildings operate well, because they have adequate spaces for workers and have the capacity to resolve the problems that COVID-19 generated. Meanwhile, the demand for e-commerce has also increased during the pandemic. In six months, we completed all the stages that we were to complete within three years. ✖