The Summer Cocktail

Saint John’s Eve is just a few days away. It is not only one of the most important celebrations in Galicia—our place of origin—but it also marks the summer solstice. Even though days will start getting shorter again, this is the time when everyone enjoys, or looks forward to enjoying, a well-deserved vacation.

In the food-grade liquid transport sector, we cannot say that the workload slows down as it slightly does at the end of the year. As we recently shared, the main ingredient in ice cream is milk—in case you didn't know—and we specialize in transporting it from farms to factories. That is already a big slice of the pie, but the transport of olive oil, drinking water, or glucose are not services that see a drop in demand during the summer.

What mixes the summer cocktail is that, even though demand remains steady, our team also needs to kick back and relax under a palm tree in Santo Domingo… or under a grapevine in Baiona, which is surely just as pleasant.

How do we meet the same transport demand while heading out to Baiona? This is where staff scheduling, traffic planning, and another key ingredient of our cocktail come into play: driver labor market trends.

At the beginning of the year, we plan holidays and establish a shift system. This is often supplemented by hiring new drivers to optimize the number of team members enjoying their summer holidays. Fortunately, we can offer attractive incentives for food-grade liquid transport professionals, allowing us to fill vacancies quickly.

Furthermore, at Rios Sangiao, we have a clear talent retention policy. It is highly unusual for our drivers to "hang up the steering wheel" during July and August only to return in September. Commitment to our clients is a core value across the company, and we are certain that teamwork allows us to provide better conditions.

So, it doesn't matter when we need to deliver eight thousand litres of fresh milk to a factory, or ten thousand litres of olive oil to Rotterdam. We have everything ready thanks to the commitment of our team, especially the talent department, traffic management, and our drivers.