July 17, 2023

We started the morning with a tour of Raminatrans, a logistics company that handles transportation and freight based in Ribarroja. We had the opportunity to take a tour of their warehouse and a presentation while we explored the warehouse. The warehouse operations typically hold the stock for a medium to a long amount of time for customers. They considered themselves a buffer warehouse with connections to the Port of Valencia. They receive the containers, deconsolidate, and stock the goods, or sometimes they send them to another warehouse or to the final customer. They are the biggest logistics company in Spain, according to the presenter. I liked the fun fact he added, saying the warehouse itself used to be a manufacturing location for Hasbro. We learned about the two different departments within the building, the operations/management department and the warehouse department, which handles more of the manual labor side of the warehouse, whereas the operations department handles more of the logistics coordination of the freight. He also discussed concepts I was very familiar with, such as Last free days, demurrage, deconsolidation and detention, and activities that I have to deal with and coordinate on a day-to-day basis at my job. The sheer size of the warehouse itself was astonishing, with a wide variety of products varying from Kymco, their biggest customer who manufactures motorbikes, to honey, cacao, rice paper for newspapers, and dishwashers, among many other goods.  We were also shown the refrigerated part of the warehouse that, honestly, the cold was a shock to the system after being out in the Spanish heat for so long. He explained that they had to put in a cooling floor before building the warehouse itself, which seems like a ton of work, and then explained that they plan on adding a frozen section as well to the warehouse.

Questions:

• What paperwork is needed other than a Bill of lading, AN, and packing list?
  • He explained that they also require paperwork that may be specific to that was specific to the warehouse and Raminatran’s own operations, such as a CMR (similar to a bill of lading for road transport, which I had never heard of before), paperwork for bonded cargo, customs clearance or decline, and paperwork do the treatment and handling of the products.

After, we went to lunch at Pata Negra and had a variety of foods, including pea soup, a blended gazpacho type thing, codfish, chips, and guacamole, a type of thinly sliced bacon in oil and peppers? There were a ton of different foods. It was really cool to have a lot of items that many of us had never had before.

I went to visit the beach after lunch and try and relax on my last day in Valencia. It was very nice. However, I realized after watching kids on the beach playing soccer that I really missed playing and made it my mission for the day to find somewhere to play. I walked a round trip 6 miles to the beach and then an additional 3 around the city to try and find ANYWHERE that I could play a pickup soccer game. I asked almost every person wearing a jersey or indoor soccer shoes on the street where I could play, and everyone pointed me in different directions. Finally, I ran into these two boys who were wearing cleats and had a soccer ball. They invited me to come to play a pickup game with them, and I was beyond excited.

Today was easily the best day in Valencia because I had the opportunity to play the sport I love in a country that is extremely passionate about it. Being able to meet and play with the boys who grew up in Valencia, who immediately welcomed me and asked which team I support between Barcelona and Madrid. The correct answer is Madrid, by the way. It was a great ending to the trip and quite possibly my favorite part.