Since last December, José Manuel Montilla is the new CEO of Operinter. With an extensive career in the logistics sector, Montilla led the creation of Operinter Andalucía in 2009 and since 2016 has been part of Operinter Holding, as executive director. Now he takes a new professional leap in a company that is the undisputed leader in the national market.
What are the main objectives you would like to achieve as Operinter’s new CEO?
Our main goal is to continue to consolidate our position as leaders in the national market and to continue to strengthen all our brands. We also continue to work to offer the best specialisation in sectors as important as pharma, food, refrigerated and automotive. As a 360º logistics operator, Operinter has the best logistics services by land, sea and air. A success and recognition that can only be explained thanks to the great human team we have. Our professionals give the best of themselves every day and are the fundamental pillar of the company.
Operinter is one of the leading freight forwarding companies in Spain, and has an international presence on five continents. Is internationalisation the best letter of introduction?
Undoubtedly. In recent years we have made a major effort to increase our presence abroad. We have strengthened our presence in India, the most populated country in the world, where we have eight branches. We have also increased our presence in Central and South America with new branches in Panama, Costa Rica and Guatemala. Also noteworthy is the opening in Turkey, a key country as a link between Europe and Asia, and the United States. This country is, without a doubt, of great interest to us. In addition to the Miami office, we are already working on opening new offices. Internationalisation is key to Operinter’s expansion and the more locations we have in strategic areas, the better.
The company has a strong presence in Asia, especially in China, which continues to occupy a dominant position as one of the world’s major production and distribution centres.
Our core business continues to be importing from the Far East. We have seven offices in China, which are vital, organised with a large team of local staff, in addition to a management team made up of Spanish professionals located in Hong Kong. This gives us great added value and generates great confidence in the markets to position us as absolute leaders in this segment.
In recent years, the logistics sector has faced many challenges (COVID; high sea freight rates; geopolitical tensions…), how has Operinter dealt with this situation and how has it managed to maintain its excellence?
There are indeed many situations that we have been confronted with in recent years. Macroeconomic factors always influence the international market and the flow of the supply chain. Our secret, as on many other occasions, has been to know how to adapt to the situation and to stay ahead of market needs and trends. Fortunately, we have succeeded in doing so.
He is commenting that the human team is the main secret of Operinter’s success as a reference company in the national forwarder sector…
In our last fiscal year, we exceeded 837 million euros, our air cargo was 4.3 million kilos and our import/export TEUs were 104,000 TEUs. These brilliant figures can only be explained thanks to the professionalism, commitment, tenacity, desire and enthusiasm of all our teams in the main strategic points of the planet. This is a fundamental pillar for us, which explains our success, and I would like to make a special mention.
Operinter is part of Alonso Group, an international holding company with a presence in all links of the supply chain and offices on five continents. What are the advantages of this?
An important solidity and the pride of being part of a business group whose last fiscal year has yielded figures of 1,979 million euros. The vast majority of the services we offer our clients are carried out with our own resources. This is a value that sets us apart from our competitors and positions us very favourably in the markets. In this scenario, customers are always at the centre of all decisions and I would like to take this opportunity to thank them for their trust.