ZAL Port appears in Diario Marítimas: “The woman in the inmologist sector”

With the arrival of the Day of the Freight Forwarder, the Diario Marítimas publishes an opinion article with the Commercial Manager of CILSA – ZAL Port, Sara Martínez, in relation to her experience as a woman in the inmologistic sector:

In my 16 years of professional experience in the ZAL Port I have been privileged attending an important change in the inmologist sector. Those are the years where at CILSA -the entity from where we manage the ZAL Port and where I have developed different roles up to now- we dedicate to provide the platform with services aimed at people, concentrated mostly in the Service Center building.

From the beginning we thought about the sector women workers, in the support that we would offer them so that they could have a minimum of personal life when the hours of the sector do not help. The surprise was that in just one year, for example, the daycare service was used 50% by men and women, not only collaborating in “family logistics” but participating in workshops and activities with their children. This was a female pattern within a male environment, which has benefited everyone. After 14 years of its start-up, absenteeism in the ZAL Port has decreased by 23%.

The ZAL Port is a pioneer in logistics infrastructure but also in differentiating itself with services and good practices. It has been a precursor and witness of how men adopt roles that the logistics sector had not seen before.

CILSA incorporated the managerial woman in this very masculine universe 25 years ago. A template where diversity has been present and has made us what we are today. We keep this trend and even today women occupy 57.1% compared to 42.8% of men. There are studies that analyze how in teams with diversity there is more resolution, better adapt to changes and gain greater profits. In the business sector, in day to day, everything goes faster thanks to technology. That’s why diversity, not only gender, but ideological and cultural, it is essential because the consumer changes and will keep doing it. You cannot lead a company only with people of one pattern.

So many times I see that we put the barriers to ourselves, as we have been educated. And we not only have to promote the distribution of power, but also the care of the family and home to achieve a society full of values that enrich everyone, that make us better. In my opinion, everything starts at home!

In all these years in CILSA we have built warehouses that have been modifying their regulations, even advancing to the facts and the times, even – for example – include something as basic as women’s locker room. I remember when they had to get dressed in the cleaning room, based on the fact that this type of physical work was not for women. Today it is unthinkable, although the difference in these positions is still abysmal.

I see figures that show that only 9% of working women in Spain occupy a managerial position, although the opinion that we all share translates into a goal and that any position must be acceptable to any person who is a good professional.

The current voices speak of no women referents in high positions and that generally makes women not to propose new challenges, added to the fear of the period of motherhood, basic in the family, which could mean a break and even setbacks in the professional careers for women. I sincerely believe that we should run away from these stereotypes that have no place in truly professional companies.

Currently in the sector, the employment rate between men and women is still unjustified and we must promote a paradigm change, make more visible the female referents, such as the opportunity that the Diario Marítimas gives me today, allowing me to be the voice of women in the sector, which I accept humbly. I hope this is going to be useful for everyone to create new business codes that allow conciliation, favoring harmony between professional, family and personal areas.

Media talk assiduously about the ZAL Port and its moment of expansion. In CILSA we have prepared ourselves to have a solid and stable base where establish a second stage of expansion in which we will carry out 100% of the development, with 200 M € of investment to execute it. The inmologist market is going to be pronounced by specialization since the current market no longer admits projects in which all the technical, quality and sustainability requirements are not accomplished. Recent projects that are taking shape and we have on the table, have the preference for turnkey operations more than a risk building because of the shortage of existing product and this most likely will lead us to complete this logistic development on 2020.

It is therefore time to take a position. The ZAL Port, is a scarce resource and the insufficiency of logistical land in Catalonia poses large freight forwarders to work with new layouts and solutions to undertake customized logistic centers in our reference logistic platform. And therefore, others not so big, should take the same initiative if they do not want to see limited their growth capacity. Also in the ZAL Port we are prepared to meet new digital challenges. The technology that whom I have talked about previously, applicable in our field of activity, will create new incorporation opportunities for more women into logistics, either in processes management or in goods movement within the warehouses where increasingly the automation is being introduced. Being aware that the sector will be one of the employment generators – thanks to the exponential growth of ecommerce – we have to think about building professional bridges for women.

It is an honor to participate in this edition of the Diario Marítimas for the Day of the Freight Forwarder, as a professional woman of the Logistic-Port Community of Barcelona, as we have been doing since the first year that the association ATEIA – OLTRA Barcelona decided to create such a significant event for everybody.

The group formed by freight forwarders is one of the most dynamic of the Port Community of Barcelona and the key to the Port of Barcelona development. The ZAL Port is your home, nothing makes more sense for your activity than the strategic location that we propose and we are happy to open our doors to create new businesses together. We are pleased, therefore, to give our spaces to receive this great group into this celebration.

Finally, a few words of respect and congratulations to the companies and people awarded by this association, to Emilio Sanz, president of its representative body, to Carmen Gracia, its director, and to all freight forwarders in general for today’s celebration.

Sara Martínez

Sales Manager CILSA – ZAL Port

Download the original: DIARIO_MARÍTIMAS_LAMUJERENELSECTORINMOLOGÍSTICO.pdf