It opened the largest logistics plant in the City and plans to add others with a US$ 30 million plan

After a investment of US$ 7 million the last mile logistics and postal services company Urbano Express which turns 20 years old, inaugurated the largest plant in the industry in the City of Buenos Aires. The majority of the sector is based in Greater Buenos Aires.

It is part of a plan projected to 2027 con a total disbursement of US$ 30 million. Los US$23 million remaining will be allocated to the installation of other plants. There is already one under construction in the industrial park of the Buenos Aires city of Junín, a point in the Province that the firm considers vital; and explore places like Mar del Plata, Santa Fe, Córdoba, Mendoza and Neuquén to set up the next ones.

The company Its majority shareholder is its founding partner, Walter Román.son of the businessman Alfredo Roman and the youngest of the four brothers who carry this surname associated with the family business of heavy transport, cranes and large infrastructure works.

It has 56% of the share package. Meanwhile, a 30% belongs to Argentine Editorial Graphic Art (AGEA)of Clarín Groupand a 14% to two executives: Marcelo Wirth y Marcelo Mattiopresident and vice president of Urbano, respectively.

The plant, which employs 400 people in three shifts, is located in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Tentsin Ascasubi 3282, from where AGEA distributed its newspapers and magazines. Until reconditioning, served as a deposit guarding 100 subway cars that the Buenos Aires government will put out to tender. “We moved the operation in front of the racetrackof a surface of 5.000 square meters to this 32.000“Román explained.

It has a semi-automatic sortera joint development with a Chinese technology firm. Automatically weigh and classify 10,000 packages per hour, with visual traceability that allows you to follow the route from the origin to the end.

Along this line, passes the 60% of the parcels you receive of their City clients. In the coming months, it is planned the addition of a second tape for packages of more than 30 kilos, the maximum weight that the one that is operational can accept.

The plant also has 20,000 rack positions and 3,000 additional with controlled temperature and a cold chamber for pharmaceutical products division, USHealthwhich premiered with this inauguration and already has 12 customers of the segment.

With the 5.000 pallet positions that you added in the 25.000 square meters of warehouse, its maximum capacity is saturated, so now plans to expand in the future depending on the growth of demand.

urban does 8 million deliveries per monthof which 6 million are letters corresponding to notices from banks and financial entities, document letters and public services. The others 2 million are packages. Each year, they represent 60 million y 20 millionrespectively. It has an operational fleet of 1,600 vehicles last mile and 50 trunk trucks con 1.500 own employees and others 1.500 external collaborators.

It has four storage floors in North Zone, West Zone, South Zone and West Florida, in addition to 52 branches of different sizes and more than 400 withdrawal points throughout the country. Before the pandemic, the business linked to the mail meant the 90%. Today is a 15%. “Postal activity shrank and logistics grew“Román pointed out.

“Urbano was born in 2004 after a legal struggle, in a monopolized market reserved for the big players of the sector. When we started operating, we lowered the cost of US$ 1 a US$ 0,20. We are a company in permanent innovation and we capitalize on opportunities,” added Román in relation to the beginnings of the company after the opening of the sector enabled by the former Minister of Economy. Juan Domingo Cavalloallowing you to compete against OCA, Argentine Mail, Ocasa y Andreani.

Today, it provides services in the channels business to business (B2B), moving brand merchandise to their headquarters; and business to consumer (B2C), reaching the consumer directly with their online purchases. Has 350 customersamong them, Free market, Zara, Adidas, Arredo, Farmacity, Natura, Coca-Cola, Molinos, Unilever, Telecom, Claro, Aysa, Edenor, Naturgy, Cetrogar y Bago.

Urbano hopes that deregulate foreign trade and that open the game for the arrival of more e-commerce playersas happens in Brazil and Mexico, which would make Argentine logistics grow. “We have permission to loading of packages that enter through Ezeiza. Today it is a minimum volume,” said Román.

Meanwhile, Wirth highlighted the strategic location of the plant, equipped with cutting-edge technology, and stressed that “this enhancement is the result of the sustained long-term growth plan that reinforces the commitment to innovation and efficiencyand allows you to collaborate with the local economic development and the urban integrationand generate jobs.”

In turn, the head of the Buenos Aires government, Jorge Macriwho attended the opening event and celebrated “the success of the private“, he considered that “This model logistics plant is going to have a positive impact”. “It will open a range of employment that will spill over into the neighborhood. The southern development of the City It is one of the challenges and legacies that we want to leave behind in our management,” he concluded.