Food logistics: Copima puts its trust in the Atego

Vehicle & Technology

In the name of good taste.

The topography of the Pyrenees requires vehicles with grip, which are both safe and highly manoeuvrable. To sell food to customers located in the villages of the Pyrenees, Copima opted for the Atego.

From village to village. The drivers at Copima, including Luis Lleida, are very friendly towards their customers and everyone knows each other.
From village to village. The drivers at Copima, including Luis Lleida, are very friendly towards their customers and everyone knows each other.

"Talking about selling in the Pyrenees is essentially the same thing as talking about topography", confirms Mario Mas, Managing Director of Copima. And even today, the mountainous topography still makes communication in the Pyrenees and deliveries to the people there a real challenge. If ever you needed proof that Copima enjoys taking on this challenge, you merely have to look at where many of their customers are situated: 2000 metres above sea level! The headquarters and the warehouses of Copima are located in the municipality of La Puebla de Castro (Huesca). From here, more than 5000 items of produce are delivered to 1600 customers, with the vast majority of those being part of the so-called "Out of Home" sales channel. The nearest customer is in Graus, just nine kilometres from the company's premises. It is the first establishment at which Luis Lleida parks his Atego on a daily basis. It is a family-run business which sells gourmet products. Already before he gets to the building, Luis is greeted with open arms. "Everyone knows each other here, and so we feel like we're part of a single community," he says reassuringly.


Mountain passes and tunnels. The Atego trucks from Copima often have to cross the mountainous massifs of the Pyrenees – the vehicles are ideal for tackling the challenging topography of the area.


"As a distributor of food products, we have to react rapidly to new trends – it's all about creating even more added value for our core business."

– Mario Mas, Managing Director of Copima


Luis, just like all of the other drivers at Copima is used to driving along the complex mountain passes – like the one at Vielha which spans a length of just over five kilometres and covers an altitude difference of 236 metres. And he's also used to driving these routes in unfavourable weather conditions – as is the case with Bonaigua which sits at 2072 metres altitude. "It's the typical climate from high up in the mountains: cool summers and cold winters with temperatures below zero and regular snowfall," Mario Mas explains. That's why Copima needs trucks with grip, which are robust and safe, whilst also offering excellent manoeuvrability. His fleet is made entirely of Mercedes-Benz vehicles, whereby the latest additions were six Atego trucks: "The model is perfectly suited to our needs," confirms Mas.

Due to the topographic characteristics of the area and the costs which these entail, the company has decided to establish an operational radius of 150 km – with their headquarters positioned at its heart. The customers thus benefit from the largest number of products within this radius. Among the places which Copima delivers to are some of the most desirable destinations: Jaca and the Astún valley which is the winter sports resort of Astún and Candanchú, the Benasque valley which is the winter sports resort of Cerler, and the Arán valley which is the winter sports resort of Baqueira-Beret.


Mario Mas has been at the helm of the company for 30 years and during these three decades he has witnessed a good many changes in consumer habits: "This is a sector which reacts very sensitively to anything which the media publishes or broadcasts," he confirms. For example: previously, people used to eat lots of red meats (especially veal and lamb), but with the onset of BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) in the eighties, this consumption rapidly decreased, whilst the consumption of white meats (such as chicken, turkey and duck) simultaneously started to climb. For the past five years, Copima has turned its attention to frozen vegetables and fish – a sub-division of the business which is also growing in importance in much the same way as ecological produce, it too experiencing a rise in its market share.



Even the traditional population density of the Pyrenees has seen big change over the course of the last three decades: with the booming tourist trade and the growing numbers of skiers and mountain sports enthusiasts, the population – and thus also the economy – has expanded. Outside of the winter months, the natural, rich landscape of the area has equally become interesting to adventure sports fans looking to go gorge walking, rafting, mountain biking or climbing. It has also become a magnet for culinary tourism, with the area being famous for its mushroom recipes.

In light of these shifts, the outlook for the company is a positive one, which is why it is currently in the process of expanding its operations: the firm's current 2200 m² premises will be replaced by a new one offering 3300 m² of floor area in which the company's employees will, for the first time, handle meats, in addition to the regular order picking, packaging and logistics activities. "It's all about creating even more added value for our core business: all in the name of good taste," Mas concludes.


Contact.

Mario Mas, Copima
E-Mail: mariomas@copima.es


Photos: Begona Tremps

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