Industry
FRANCE. Vinôtel, the Transports Raymondis logistics system in Rivesaltes is aptly named, as this logistics subsidiary is a real “hotel” for wine: 6,000 m2 of isothermal storage where the temperature can be set between 10 and 17 °, humidity is carefully controlled and recorded on a disk that provides a record of the temperature. “Security is also very important”, adds Transports Raymondis boss, Éric Nazon: “we carry out scrupulous access checks, particularly through remote monitoring; the building is equipped with switches on every door and other protection systems to ensure full cover at this level. No outsider is ever allowed to enter the premises, where bottles are stored for several clients, on their own. Anyone visiting the site is therefore always accompanied”.
This level of security has obviously convinced local growers who have now discovered a way to completely decentralise their logistics. All the more since Vinôtel has set up a partnership with a carrier specialising in messaging, DB Schenker-Joyau, to offer its customers a complete service. “This combined transport and logistics service is our strength”, says Éric Nazon. “We bring the empty bottles to producers, we also transport in bulk, we take the full bottles and store them in optimum conditions, then we take orders and ship for export to the end customer”.
This level of security has obviously convinced local growers who have now discovered a way to completely decentralise their logistics. All the more since Vinôtel has set up a partnership with a carrier specialising in messaging, DB Schenker-Joyau, to offer its customers a complete service. “This combined transport and logistics service is our strength”, says Éric Nazon. “We bring the empty bottles to producers, we also transport in bulk, we take the full bottles and store them in optimum conditions, then we take orders and ship for export to the end customer”.
A structure suited to top-of the-range wines (Photo: FM)
The positive effect of “massification”
Vinôtel houses thousands of bottles of wine mostly from across the entire Pyrénées-Orientales department and some from the Aude, also taking advantage of its strategic location at the start of the A9 motorway, a real nerve centre in the Languedoc-Roussillon region.
The Transports Raymondis’ logistics subsidiary works on behalf of groups of producers, cooperatives, but especially owner/growers of small estates producing wines with high added value. “On average, the service costs eight euro per palette of 600 bottles, per month, which is 1 cent per bottle per month”, says Éric Nazon. A relatively low cost, but does not include the cost of services such as order picking.
Vinôtel is mainly of interest to producers offering premium wine, rather than to wine shops or restaurants. “Because people who buy expensive bottles are also very demanding”, says the Vinôtel boss: “Producers of quality wines cannot afford, for example, to send a damaged case of wine to a restaurant”.
The success of the Rivesaltes logistics system is also due to the effect of “massification”, as Éric Nazon says; “We have a particular Belgian customer who prefers to consolidate all his purchases from us, rather than going back to get two hundred bottles in Banyuls and two hundred more in Caudiès-de-Fenouillèdes, a hundred kilometres away”. Consequently, this policy also has the advantage of reducing C02 emissions by limiting the loading points. This demonstrates Vinôtel ‘s green credentials.
Special issue : Ensuring the logistical safety and security of Mediterranean wines
The Transports Raymondis’ logistics subsidiary works on behalf of groups of producers, cooperatives, but especially owner/growers of small estates producing wines with high added value. “On average, the service costs eight euro per palette of 600 bottles, per month, which is 1 cent per bottle per month”, says Éric Nazon. A relatively low cost, but does not include the cost of services such as order picking.
Vinôtel is mainly of interest to producers offering premium wine, rather than to wine shops or restaurants. “Because people who buy expensive bottles are also very demanding”, says the Vinôtel boss: “Producers of quality wines cannot afford, for example, to send a damaged case of wine to a restaurant”.
The success of the Rivesaltes logistics system is also due to the effect of “massification”, as Éric Nazon says; “We have a particular Belgian customer who prefers to consolidate all his purchases from us, rather than going back to get two hundred bottles in Banyuls and two hundred more in Caudiès-de-Fenouillèdes, a hundred kilometres away”. Consequently, this policy also has the advantage of reducing C02 emissions by limiting the loading points. This demonstrates Vinôtel ‘s green credentials.
Special issue : Ensuring the logistical safety and security of Mediterranean wines
En français : La logistique des vins méditerranéens
Special issue Econostrum.info in partnership with Vinisud
