Digital and Sustainable Focus for SIL Barcelona

The 21st edition of SIL 2019 – The Leading Exhibition for Logistics, Transport, Intralogistics and Supply Chain in Southern Europe, – and the 3rd edition of eDelivery Barcelona Expo & Congress – The e-Commerce Delivery, Logistics and Last Mile International Exhibition- , were presented this morning to the media with the presence of Pere Navarro, special delegate of the State at the Consorci de la Zona Franca de Barcelona (CZFB) and president of the SIL, and Blanca Sorigué (both seen above), managing director of CFZB and SIL . Both fairs, organised by the Consorci de la Zona Franca de Barcelona, will be held from June 26 to 28 at Hall 8 of the Fira de Barcelona Montjuic venue, coinciding with the celebration of the World Free Trade Zones Congress and the InTrade Summit BCN, the International Trade and Supply Chain Summit te that encompasses the ALACAT Congress, the International Congress of Authorized Economic Operators (OEAS) and the MedaLogistics Summit.

The SIL 21st edition and the 3rd eDelivery Barcelona edition have experienced a 10% increase of participating companies with respect to last year, reaching up to 710 participating companies. 40% of them will be international from 43 different countries. SIL 2019 will host Aragón as its guest autonomous community. The exhibition will present 150 new exhibiting companies in exclusivity and 180 private companies’ events.

A sector that represents 8% of the Spanish GDP
During the presentation, Pere Navarro, special delegate of the State at the CZFB and president of SIL, has valued the importance of the logistics and transport sector, remembering that “it represents an 8% of the Spanish GDP, is one of the 5 sectors that generate more employment in Spain and its turnover grew 5.6% during the past year.” Navarro has also stressed that “these figures show the great importance of the logistics sector for the economy, not only Spanish but the global one. Despite its importance, the logistics sector is still quite a mystery for the society in general, thus SIL 2019 will be a great opportunity to show the world how important the sector is and to vindicate what a relevant role it is playing in the current economy that will be even greater in the coming years. ”

Along with SIL 2019 and eDelivery Barcelona will coincide in Barcelona for 3 days very important international events related to international trade, transport, logistics and merchandise distribution as is the case of the World Free Zones Congress, and the InTrade Summit BCN that encompasses the ALACAT Congress -the largest Congress of Freight Forwarders and Logistics Operators in Latin America-, the International Congress of Authorized Economic Operators (OEAs), the MedaLogistics Summit and the Americas’ Free Zones Association (AZFA). “As a whole, they will have a considerable economic impact on the city, but above all, they will have very important later effects because of the relationships created that will generate new investments,” has assured the special delegate of the State at the CZFB and president of SIL. The SIL, eDelivery Barcelona, World Free Zones Congress and InTrade Summit BCN Congresses will gather more than 400 international speakers, more than 200 success stories and a total of 65 different conference sessions.

Business deals, contacts and knowledge, a success formula
An innovative exhibition area, where all sectors of the supply chain will be represented with the latest sector’s news and trends, a highly developed program of networking activities and a prestigious congress with the participation of the world’s leading speakers are the pillars for the success of both SIL 2019 and eDelivery Barcelona. “This year we will be able to find at SIL from robots that can collect, transport and deliver pallets and other heavy loads to sustainable trucks with all kinds of accessories to ensure the safety of workers, the latest in organic fuels for the transport of goods or all kinds of software to achieve logistic excellence, just to give some examples,” has explained Blanca Sorigué, Managing Director of CZFB and SIL.

The Networking program is fully loaded this year. The Círculo Logístic puts the participating SIL companies in contact with the logistics and supply chain directors of industrial companies; the #The Retailer Club, generates opportunities between eDelivery Barcelona participating companies with directors and heads of logistics and deliveries of the main retailers and pure players, the International Networking Lunch, will put all SIL participants in contact with more than 1,000 decision makers from all over the world. To further enhance networking, the SIL organization has created a new App that enables, through an internal messaging system, to contact the different conferences attendees, as well as speakers and exhibiting companies. Likewise, SIL offers all participants the “Match & Meet” tool that allows, depending on the needs that visitors show at the time of registration, contact and schedule meetings with those companies that best fit their profile.

Digitalisation and sustainability
“Supply Chain and 4.0 Industry: ready for digitalization & sustainability challenges” is the title of this year’s SIL Congress. Pere Navarro has explained that “the two great challenges that the sector has to face are sustainability and respect for the environment, and the digital transformation that will enable it to adapt itself to the new technologies new demands and provide an efficient response to the industry needs. Therefore, the SIL will also be an important meeting point to analyze these challenges, identify what opportunities are presented to us, what threats we have to face, as well as to become familiar with success stories that can help us find solutions to the problems that the professionals face in their day to day “.

eDelivery Barcelona Expo & Congress’ 3rd edition
The third edition of eDelivery Barcelona Expo & Congress, meanwhile, will seek to respond to the challenges that the delivery sector must face. Five years ago, 125,000 packages were distributed per day in Spain and today the figure exceeds 1.25 million shipments, which makes it necessary for us to find solutions to problems such as sustainability, environment and mobility … The exhibition will precisely put its focus of interest in these aspects. eDelivery Barcelona will have an exhibition area dedicated to startups again this year, the eDelivery Startup Innovation Hub, where disruptive offers and proposals will be presented aimed at responding to all these problems.

eDelivery Barcelona will once again deliver a first level congress with more than 50 speakers that will bring us cases of successful companies such as Amazon, Chiquelle, Caprabo, Tendam, Accenture, Condis, Kraving Kitchens, SKFK, Mango or Fruugo. In this line, Blanca Sorigué has explained that “the eDelivery Barcelona Congress will place special emphasis on the future of eCommerce deliveries as a determining factor in the satisfaction of the consumer shopping experience and with a very special sensitivity to all aspects that affect sustainability.” Sorigué has added that “we will have sessions on innovation, latest deliveries’ trends, last mile and operations, cross-border commerce, RetailTech, fulfillment, artificial intelligence and big data, autonomous vehicles, microhubs, smart cities, sustainability, optimization … it will be spectacular”.