We are a small family run haulage company who have been offered 4 months worth of work to Madrid, one trailer a week. We have had a look for return loads to the UK from Spain but have so far been unsuccessful, since we don’t have the contacts for this work. We do some work for one international haulier, but they are non-committal regarding return loads from Spain, the rates are not great, and we cannot afford to be stranded out there with no return load. We need something firmer and a little (or preferably a lot) better paid!
Does anybody have any suitable contacts please? We are very reliable with a decent fleet and a good set of drivers. We will do a good job. Midlands based.
Many thanks for any assistance anybody is able to give.
Kind regards
Helen Stevens
Welcome to Trucknet Helen,we are mad as hatters on here,it is like a club,as for the work,have you tried Insight Transport Logistics Ltd,at Inkberrow,not far from yours,they do Spain and Gibraltar,ask for Gilbert or the boss Steve Walker,for contact details,just google them.
Also Vascoingles on here may have contacts,and Welshboy in Spain,and Hombre,all work in Spain and may point you in the right direction,
Due to the cucumber crisis,Southern Spain is having problems on the fresh food production,even the onions coming back are getting paid peanuts.
The big freight forwarders in Madrid are in the Coslada area,near the international airport,they are Spain TIR,part of the Schnecker group,another one is Moldtrans,if you google transport depots in Madrid,many more will come up.
Also try DSV,they are global,if you contact the depot in Avonmouth,near Bristol,they may find a return load,it may be from Barcelona/Valencia,or tiles/ceramics from Castelon,so its dead or empty mileage to there.
Another firm to try is LK Walters,they are based in Austria,rates are not the best,but they have thousands of subbies on their books,and may find work back to the uk.
Hi Toby. Thanks for your reply. That gives me a few places to look. But if they are paying peanuts for onions then I think we are going to be in trouble! 
It is not good out there,as you may be aware of the cheaper eastern european transport,that seem to have a knack of being in the right place at the right time,i have seen them driving on to the ferries from Barcelona to Ibiza,Majorca,with the wages they are paid,it is why they can get down to nothing rates,and they will run miles empty,however,when i was working in Gibraltar,it was normal to drive all day,about 400 miles,to the other side of Spain,like Alicante or Valencia for a return load to the UK.
Can you find loads going empty from Madrid to Lisbon,or Porto,some firms do this.I used to own my own truck,but the stress and worry nearly killed me off,i am sure someone on here will help out,Vascoingles can be sent a private message or a PM,if you dont want others to see what you wrote.
Hi Helen. Welcome to “mad-house” 
Try Rosewood Trucking … contact details in Trucking magazine … i think they now have an office in Spain - but are UK based … always got me home when i was on European. Rates were not fantastic … but often never had to run too far “empty” … always a bonus 
Ps. i’m in the market for a job, if you want a DRIVER 
No harm in asking
Only other option is to find ceramics and tiles from the Valencia area,or Onda,sometimes one collection,or multi collection and delivery.
Helen,are you looking for euro/uk drivers,i think a queue is building up,i have ADR in tankers/packages,Drivers CPC.
toby1234abc:
Only other option is to find ceramics and tiles from the Valencia area,or Onda,sometimes one collection,or multi collection and delivery.
Helen,are you looking for euro/uk drivers,i think a queue is building up,i have ADR in tankers/packages,Drivers CPC.
Get in the queue … i asked FIRST I’ve also got ADR and the wretched DCPC 
Ahh. Sorry guys, not looking for drivers at the minute. If only we could get decent Eurpoean work we might have been, but our experience of it so far has been on very poor rates, such that it is only marginally better to send the trucks than to park them. By the time you have paid the diesel and the tolls, and I dread to think of the cost if a vehicle should break down abroad… I feel sorry for people who have no other options, it is no wonder companies are going bump all over the place.
Helen Stevens:
Ahh. Sorry guys, not looking for drivers at the minute. If only we could get decent Eurpoean work we might have been, but our experience of it so far has been on very poor rates, such that it is only marginally better to send the trucks than to park them. By the time you have paid the diesel and the tolls, and I dread to think of the cost if a vehicle should break down abroad… I feel sorry for people who have no other options, it is no wonder companies are going bump all over the place.
try st boi nr barcelona freight forwarder to uk
hi helen, why don,t you sub it out to the eastern europeans, take a good cut. that way no expences laid out.
We only sub work out very occasionally, as we have a small customer base who like us because we look after them very well, so would not trust our work to anybody we didn’t know. The only reason we have the option on the work is because the goods are easily damaged and the customer trusts us to do it right. So if we take the work it will be door to door with one of our best drivers in the saddle.
white van:
try st boi nr barcelona freight forwarder to uk
What’s the name of the forwarder in Sant boi de Lobregat? might help to find them.
Ross.
Try Alberto Fontana in Barca, I used to use them alot in the past, very good at finding loads to UK, pay decent & on time, Spanish & English speaking. We used to book our return loads before we even departed the UK and send fax confirmation with driver to make things easier
afsl.es/english/contact/index.html
ALBERTO FONTANA S.L.
Rosellon, 186 - 3º.2ª
08008-BARCELONA
Tel: +34-93-454.64.63
Fax: +34-93-454.66.22
E-mail: afsl@afsl.es
hacia arriba
Calling from the United Kingdom.?
CALL US FROM THE UNITED KINGDOM UNDER UK NATIONAL RATES
Tel: 0871-4740155
Fax: 0871-4740156
All your suggestions are very helpful and most appreciated. I am glad I asked! I have been checking out some of the suggestions, but meanwhile if anybody has anything else to offer, please do keep them coming. I was hoping somebody might be able to put me in touch directly with a manufacturing company in or close to Madrid, which ships regular loads to Spain, so I could cut out the middleman. Though I realise the chances are very slight, and such a company would probably not trust their loads to a haulier they didn’t know. But it is worth an ask. If you don’t ask, you don’t get.
toby1234abc:
Only other option is to find ceramics and tiles from the Valencia area,or Onda,sometimes one collection,or multi collection and delivery.
Helen,are you looking for euro/uk drivers,i think a queue is building up,i have ADR in tankers/packages,Drivers CPC.
be careful with ceramics, the pallets may contain other “substances” !
Denis F:
be careful with ceramics, the pallets may contain other “substances” !
This had occured to me Denis. You do have to be really careful these days! The last thing we or our drivers need is to end up in jail in Spain! 
let us know how you get on helen, there is too much negativity about euro work these days. you dont have to tell us who the work is from but just if you have sorted some. 
jessicas dad:
let us know how you get on helen, there is too much negativity about euro work these days. you dont have to tell us who the work is from but just if you have sorted some.
Thanks for the encouragement. I checked out one of the UK companies mentioned, but they had a zero credit rating, so I wouldn’t contact that one in case we didn’t get paid. I sent a message to one of the Spanish companies who sounded promising, but have had no reply yet. It is getting close to crunch time now, so we might have to give up on the idea!
The trouble we have is that some larger companies have quoted much cheaper rates than we (currently) have a hope of matching. Our customer is prepared to meet us somewhere in the middle because they would rather trust their goods to us. But unless we receive a half decent offer for return loads, we can’t even meet them in the middle, which is such a shame because we lose out, and our customer loses out too.
PS. You are famous, when I’m out in truck I have heard a few times that Jessica’s dad has phoned in with a traffic update for Sally traffic. It’s great to ‘almost’ meet you!
There is a uk firm that have depots in Spain,called Silver Wolf,but i will not comment on how good they are,i know that LK Walters in Austria have a good credit rating,i would use DSV via their Avonmouth depot.Or Davies Turner if they operate in Spain,if nothing happens,is there a chance of running empty to France,to get loads from Irun or Bordeaux,dead mileage though.
Toby, you beat me to it, running back upto France was gonna be my next suggestion, fruit (apples, pears), veg (corn or carrots) or even wine back ‘home’ none of which require a fridge