Barcelona, January 23th. 2014. – SETRAM Group starts 2014 as an Authorized Economic Operator (AEO). SETRAM, with the support of the consulting company Arola, obtained the AEO Customs Simplification/Security and Safety certificate. Spain is already the sixth largest country in number of AEO certified companies, following Germany, the Netherlands, France, Italy and Poland. From now on, SETRAM will take advantage of the following benefits:
SETRAM Group General Manager, Manuel Hereza, explains how the OEA certification was achieved: “In our case, the analysis of the import and export processes spread over the last three budgetary years. This is the reason why we feel so satisfied with the work carried out with the competent administration. Since 2014, SETRAM is part of the companies qualified as Authorized Economic Operator. This is a highly appreciated certification in European supply chains, focused on security, reliability and trust of the different supply chain providers.” SETRAM Group Quality Manager, Antonio Saiz, was responsible for the coordination of the internal protocol aimed at achieving AEO certificate: “Our goal is to become a globally reliable operator and being an AEO is indeed a very important milestone. According to the Association of Certified Customs Representatives (“Asociación de Representantes Aduaneros Certificados” in Spanish) that qualification helps mutual international recognition, and we look forward to increasing the number of certified operators in Europe every year.”
The risks of different nature that the European Union countries are currently facing compelled to reinforce the role of customs in terms of international supply chain security beyond the traditional customs controls domain. The objective of the AEO consists not only in fighting the terrorist threat, but also in contributing to the fight against organized crime and protecting citizens from other dangers like those in the consumer or environment protection domains. The role of the Authorized Economic Operator is probably the most important mechanism for customs to carry out this new function in favour of legal trade.
With a surface of 250,000 m² the vehicle terminal in the Port of Barcelona managed by SETRAM recorded up to 232,000 transit vehicles during 2013, a total increase of 4.4% compared with the previous fiscal year. This figure was achieved thanks to export traffic, which yielded over a 10% growth. With a fleet of 300 car carrier trucks, SETRAM transports over 400,000 vehicles per year. Moreover, in its logistics distribution centres in Spain it manages almost 150,000 units per year