“A coffee with…” Carlos Zubialde, Strategy and business consultant at LIS Data Solutions and owner of informacionlogistica.com

Strategy and Business Consultant at LIS Data Solutions- owner of informacionlogistica.com

Logistics Madrid: Tell us about yourself and your career in the logistics sector. How did you get started in this sector? Where does this passion come from?

Carlos Zubialde: I was born in Irun (Gipuzkoa), a border town, and that’s what makes the difference. Since I was a child, I have seen the lorries travelling along the roads, when they had to stop at the old customs area of the Santiago bridge, to clear their imports or exports. My first job was in a customs agency, where my job was to “help” with the inspection of our clients’ lorries in front of the health authorities or the Soivre. There I also learned how documents were cleared, knowledge that 40 years later is still useful to me. Then came the opening of the intra-community borders and the closing of customs, and it was then that I started with express transport.

Logistics Madrid: You have a very successful blog where you talk about hot topics in the transport and logistics industry. Tell us, what was the history of the blog, when was it created and where did the idea come from?

C. Zubialde: I always say that the blog is a consequence of a vital need I had, and still have, to share information. In 2010 I discovered Linkedin, and I was sharing a lot of news; a good friend suggested that I put all that news in one place, so that on Fridays, for example, he could read the ones that interested him. That was the initial germ of informcionlogistica.com, sharing news, and thanks to another good friend from childhood, I discovered how to create a blog and a website, it was October 2014.
The first years were just sharing news, until one day my body asked me to write, I remember it perfectly, the first post was titled “What is the fair price of an ecommerce delivery”. It was June 2016, and it was a real success, it caught me by surprise and encouraged me to try to continue with an article a week. The definitive leap of the blog was in 2019, where I started writing more continuously, taking care of the language a little more, etc. And in 2021, thanks to my colleagues at Auditorseo.com, we have given it a makeover that I think everyone likes.

Logistics Madrid: You are a critical professional, always doing your bit and staying one step ahead of others. Where do you get the inspiration to write?

C. Zubialde: More than inspiration, I collect what happens in the sector, and I keep it in a repository, a place where I have written down things that I have found interesting, or that simply catch my attention for whatever reason. And then, I have to tell you a secret, inspiration usually comes to me at two very specific times that I can pinpoint: early in the morning (very early, when everyone is asleep and your mind is only focused on the computer screen); and secondly, when I do sport. I am a “crazy” cyclist (before that I was also a runner), and there are many moments in the solitude of the kilometres that allow me to structure what I want to write, and how.

Logistics Madrid: Delivery has been the hot topic of conversation in the industry since the pandemic, do you think this trend is going to make the logistics industry develop in terms of technology, security, environmental impact etc.? What are your impressions on this hot topic?

C. Zubialde: There is a lot of debate, and I sincerely believe that there is little business. If we look at the accounts of the big companies that are mainly involved in delivery food, they are between surprising and scandalous. I still don’t understand how they are able to raise hundreds of millions of euros when their business model doesn’t work.

Another question is the rest of delivery, we have to separate, as I say, food on the one hand, the businesses related to this “field” and the rest. Technology? Yes of course, but if we are talking about businesses where there are significant losses, technology will not solve them, it is a problem of service structure, not of technological application.

And lastly, pay attention to the legislation on distribution in cities, I think that in a decade the regulatory change may be brutal, that of receiving a purchase at home will surely be a “premium” service and not the standard we know today.

Logistics Madrid: As an expert who also dedicates his day-to-day life to keeping abreast of the latest developments in the field, where do you see the keys to the future of logistics?

C. Zubialde: If we talk about logistics, I think the three keys are sustainability, Artificial Intelligence and Big Data. Any company that pivots its future services on increasingly sustainable and connected processes will be positioning itself very strongly in the market. Artificial Intelligence applications for aspects such as demand prediction, for example, will be paramount.

If we talk about transport, the big problem in land transport, for example, will be the lack of skilled labour such as drivers. Tools such as automatic driving or drones, I believe, are more a marketing aspect than a real one, and the lack of drivers is the great threat to transport in the coming years.

The 2nd AFE-APCE Congress starts today at the BEC with more than 200 participants

·       Celebradas en IFEMA, ambas ferias han contado con la participación de más de 360 empresas expositoras de los sectores del packaging, la logística y el transporte, registrando 38.361 interacciones comerciales.

·       En total, han ocupado más de 20.500 metros cuadrados de exposición, un 6 % más que el año anterior, subrayando su creciente impacto económico.

·       “Estas cifras récord no solo indican el éxito del salón, sino también el estado actual y el potencial de crecimiento de los sectores del packaging y la logística en España”, afirma Oscar Barranco, director general de Easyfairs Iberia.

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