Pallet Rental: Aguas Glaciar Switches to CHEP in Portugal

Águas Glaciar, a leading Portuguese bottled water company, has switched its annual 118,000 pallet movements to CHEP.

Águas Glaciar had previously been using another pallet pooling provider but chose to switch to CHEP due to the cost and efficiency benefits available, the comprehensive international coverage CHEP provides and the quality of CHEP’s pallets.

Águas Glaciar CEO Miguel Paulino said: “CHEP provides an innovative service that meets our specific needs and supports our business growth plans. CHEP’s packaging solution offers high quality pallets, a very reliable service and significant industry experience to help us improve the efficiency and effectiveness of our operation. These were the factors that convinced us to expand our business with CHEP.”

CHEP’s global presence is also playing a key role in helping Águas Glaciar expand its operations. With annual volumes of more than 990 million litres, the bottling company is establishing operations this year in Germany, the USA, Angola and Spain.

Águas Glaciar, with production lines running 24 hours a day, is currently constructing an automated warehouse at is main production facility in Manteigas, central Portugal. Covering an area of 3,000 square metres, the 12-metre high warehouse will be able to store 4,500 pallets. The new facility will be able to dispatch 200 trucks a day, a significant increase from the 30 to 50 trucks currently leaving the plant each day.

Once the new facility is open, the next big challenge for Águas Glaciar will be to grow its business to match the production and storage capacity it has established. Its target is to reach 250 million litres per annum. It is currently running at 190 litres.

Mr Paulino said: “With CHEP, we receive a service that is tailored to our exact requirements. Not only are CHEP’s pallets high quality but the service is environmentally sustainable, because the pallets continually circulate across the supply chain. The CHEP service is very good indeed and the best in the marketplace.”

Águas Glaciar is now considering using CHEP’s 800×600 millimetre display pallets. Research conducted by a number of major European retailers has shown use of these pallets for in-store displays can result in a 20% to 60% increase in sales.

CHEP Iberia Vice President & Country General Manager Laura Nador, said: “We are delighted that Águas Glaciar has extended its contract with CHEP to support its global strategic development. We are very proud of our service offer and the value it delivers, including sustainable efficiency improvements. We look forward to continued collaboration with Águas Glaciar should it decide to introduce our display pallets.”

Águas Glaciar

Águas Glaciar is a leading Portuguese bottled water company with a presence in 20 countries. The glacier water bottled by the company is filtered through granite rock and is extremely pure, with a variation of between 19 and 24 milligrams of dry residue – a range achieved by only nine types of water in the world. The company is also well established in the biological products market, in particular in Northern Europe.

The company’s Glaciar Diamond label, distributed in gourmet establishments and five-star hotels and restaurants, received a Superior Taste Award in 2008 from the International Taste & Quality Institute of Brussels.

Further information about Águas Glaciar is available at www.glaciar.pt.