Mudinmar is a family-owned business based in Valencia, Spain. It’s a family company that specialises in providing a service to The Canary Islands and The Balearics. Steve Jordan spoke to the current generation to find out more.

It was in 1988 that Gregorio Martinez and his brother José started their moving company. They had both been involved in the industry for some time but now wanted to branch out on their own. They set up in Valencia, the main port for Madrid, and also opened in Gran Canaria in The Canaries. In 1992 they opened in Tenerife. The business specialised in the shipping of new furniture to the Balearic Islands and general cargo and household goods to The Canaries.

International moving became more important in 2000 when Gregorio’s son, also Gregorio, joined his sister Maria José and brother Juan. Since then the company has grown steadily and now has ten people in the head office in Valencia with shipping managers each specialising in their own regions: South America, USA, Europe, The Balearic and Canary Islands – and domestic moving within Spain.

“In 2000, when I started, I asked my father: what can I do for the company?” said Grego. His sister and brother were already working there. Grego was immediately put to work loading boxes in the warehouse, packing with the road crews and learning every aspect of the job. “I was very grateful to my father for making me do it that way. Now it’s much easier for me to manage people because I understand the problems they have.”

Mudinmar has the distinction of being the only moving company in Valencia that is also a customs broker. This should help the company secure new business in the future as the customs clearance regulations changed in Europe this year requiring goods to be cleared in the country in which they will be used. Gone are the days when goods could be cleared in the UK and then delivered throughout Europe.

Mudinmar runs a daily service from Valencia to the Balearic Islands of Majorca and Minorca and has a weekly service for The Canaries leaving on a Saturday and delivering to Gran Canaria on Wednesday and Tenerife on Thursday. The company also has a weekly service to and from Europe from Spain and has regular consolidated shipments to the USA, especially the main ports of New York, Miami and Los Angeles.

The company has been a member of IAM for five years and has recently joined PAIMA to cement its contacts with agents especially in South America, Argentina in particular. “Argentina is our best market,” said Grego. “We have six to eight shipments a month going there, FCL and LCL, and a constant flow of traffic back.”

Mudinmar has a very young team. It has a strong online presence, including specific landing pages for the South American countries allowing it to position itself there – virtually. Although the company is ambitious, it has no plans to expand its physical operations outside Spain. Instead it will rely on the agency relationships it already has and new ones it will develop in the future.

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