Amazon looking for a site to set up a large logistics centre in the Canary Islands

Amazon is looking for a site to set up a large logistics centre either on the island of Gran Canaria, where they have looked at land in the industrial areas near the Gando airport, specifically in the Free Zone of the port of Arinaga or in one of the industrial estates of the municipalities of Telde or Ingenio, or in Tenerife where inquiries have been made in similar areas close to ports and airports.

Consulting companies that have worked on the construction of other Amazon centres in Spain have requested information from public administrations and business organizations of the Islands, in order to set up a distribution base in the Archipelago to serve the Canary Islands and neighbouring African countries.

The multinational e-commerce company created by Jeff Bezos delegates the search for land or existing infrastructures to install its warehouses and the logistics parks, to consultancies or construction companies. It is these external consultants who are in charge of the procedures with local authorities before the construction of warehouses.

The Consortium of the Free Trade Zone of Gran Canaria, with land available in the ports of La Luz and Arinaga, is one of the organizations contacted by these consulting companies, saying that the port of the municipality of Agüimes would be an ideal place to create a distribution centre.

In the Arinaga Free Zone, there are currently more than 250,000 square metres available and, apart from the tax benefits because the storage of goods is exempt from entry or exit taxes, it has a good geographical location due to its proximity to the airport.

In fact, Amazon has already installed one of its main logistics centres on the mainland in the Barcelona Free Trade Zone, on a site rented from the Consortium where a 9,300-square-metre warehouse was built.

Other places that have sparked interest are the industrial estates in Telde and Ingenio, also because they are very close to the cargo terminals of the Gran Canaria airport.

Despite the expansion of Amazon in Spain in recent years, the company does not yet have its own large logistics base in the Canary Islands, although a project was previously announced in Tenerife to build a centre for storage and distribution, but it was delayed due to problems with the construction companies.

OTHER CENTRES IN SPAIN:
According to the data provided by the company in June, Amazon already has distribution centres in the following locations in Spain: Coruña, Alcalá de Henares, Alcobendas, Almería, Barcelona, ​​Castellbisbal, El Prat de Llobregat, Illescas, Leganés, Madrid, Málaga , Martorelles, Murcia, O'Porriño-Pontevedra, Paterna, Rubí, San Fernando de Henares, Seville and Trapagaran.

The first to open, in 2012, was that of San Fernando de Henares, a town near Madrid and Barajas airport, and it was the largest in Spain until the centre of Illescas (Toledo) came into operation in 2019, which covers an area of ​​200,000 square metres.