From taxi drivers at ports serving cruise passengers to suppliers of naval repairs that are already reaching islands such as Lanzarote, the logistics and port business in Las Palmas and Santa Cruz de Tenerife faces a period of uncertainty following the insolvency of one of the sector’s historic players in the archipelago. The problem is greater in the islands because operations are handled by sales representatives and middlemen who lack real decision-making power.
The Mercantile Court in Barcelona orders the voluntary filing
The Commercial Court No. 12 of Barcelona has declared the voluntary filing for creditors’ winding-up of Transcoma Global Logistics. The freight forwarding firm has a reported financial liability estimated at up to €50 million—a figure that has set off alarm bells in the ports of Las Palmas and Santa Cruz de Tenerife due to the direct impact the collapse of the parent company could have on its key subsidiary in the islands, the forwarding agent Hamilton y Cía.
Consolidation plan hits Transcoma’s core operations
The insolvency proceedings strike at the operating core of Transcoma Grupo Empresarial, a corporation with a 200-year track record that began operations in 1810 under its original name, Ripol y Cía. The group provides services to a global portfolio of 36,000 clients and runs an international network made up of 34 offices located in strategic points around the world. The group’s structure is underpinned by ownership of various specialized brands in the air, maritime, and land freight sectors, including SilverTrans, Mermaid, Medatlantic, and the company Hamilton y Cía.
A drop in specialized logistics services
The downfall of Transcoma Global Logistics cuts the flow of a highly technically specialized logistics operation. The forwarding company, whose headquarters are in Barcelona, operated through its own delegations at industrial and cargo nodes in Canary Islands, Madrid, Bilbao, and Valencia, and it also had an operations structure in Milan. Its activity ranged from end-to-end customs management and warehousing of goods to specific departments for carrying out large-scale logistics engineering projects.
Restructuring of the group’s corporate structure in August 2024
The Barcelona holding group brings together an ecosystem of more than a dozen subsidiary firms operating in a diversified manner across goods warehousing, customs agency management, provision of technical services for the energy sector, and specialized support for shipyards. The group’s corporate structure underwent a strategic shift in August 2024, when Alfonso Cordero, then CEO of the organization, acquired 100% of the company’s share capital from the Cryns family, taking full control of management.
Parent seeks to ring-fence the subsidiary’s impact
Management of the parent company is seeking to isolate the impact of the freight-forwarding subsidiary’s collapse and says that the situation of Transcoma Global Logistics does not compromise the holding company’s financial development or alter its long-term expansion plans. Management sources maintain that this forced restructuring will bring a greater operational focus and efficiency, establishing a stronger financial base to tackle the next stages of the overall business plan. Alfonso Cordero himself has said that the viability of family-owned businesses requires taking complex decisions aimed at ensuring the continuity of the business project, justifying the closure of the forwarding firm as a protection measure for the group’s future and its human resources.
Supply-chain concerns in the Canary Islands port community
Bringing this transport infrastructure into insolvency phase has sparked immediate concern in the Canary Islands port community. Hamilton y Cía.’s position as one of the reference freight forwarders and customs agencies at the islands’ docks makes it a sensitive piece within the archipelago’s foreign trade machinery. Maritime-sector companies and terminal operators are watching the evolution of the insolvency administration in Barcelona with caution, fearing that liquidity tensions at Transcoma’s parent may end up draining resources or conditioning the viability and lines of credit of its most profitable and operational subsidiaries in Canary Islands ports.
La quiebra de Transcoma enciende las alarmas en Canarias por el futuro de Hamilton se publicó primero en encanarymaritime.com.
