Our Beginnings

EMDIPA'S ORIGINS

FOUNDER: Sergio Jiménez, founding partner and CEO.

It all began in 1985 with an idea to provide local transport services in Madrid. Sergio had access to a family vehicle, a SEAT Panda Trans.

First customer

Perhaps it was chance or a stroke of luck that led Sergio to his first customer: a company located next to the bookshop where his parents worked. It was a small bedside-lamp manufacturer that needed its orders delivered to neighbouring towns. Faced with this opportunity, Sergio got to work making the deliveries.

First vehicle

At the time, Sergio was driving a family vehicle, but it was not always available when he needed it. He therefore began looking for a vehicle of his own — the bigger, the better.

He found a DKW van (now Mercedes-Benz) at a scrapyard and, using parts from other scrapyards, managed to assemble his first large van at a friend's workshop. He also found a painter to touch up the bodywork and make the van look more presentable. “Things were very different back then!” says Sergio.

To ensure safe and efficient deliveries, the one thing he could not afford to compromise on was the tyres. After some careful budgeting, he finally managed to buy a new set and fit them to wheels he had painted white. “At last, I was going to start doing real transport work!” Sergio recalls.

First deliveries

Little by little, the goods Sergio was asked to transport became larger and heavier. The local council in the district where he lived asked him to transport a stage for the local festivities, collecting it first thing in the morning and taking it directly to the venue to be assembled. That was his first major transport job.

He also began visiting transport hiring points, where companies would go in search of hauliers to transport their goods. “Your presence there wasn't always welcomed, because you were the competition.” “You have to remember that there were no mobile phones at the time, so this was the only way to find goods to transport,” Sergio explains.

A NEW BUSINESS IDEA

By visiting loading centres and learning first-hand about customers' needs, Sergio began to rethink and reorganise the way he worked. “First and foremost, customers should never have to travel somewhere to find transport. EMDIPA could reverse the process and have the haulier go to the customer, rather than the other way round. And that was how I got started,” Sergio explains.

First van

At just 20 years old, Sergio had to overcome many obstacles along the way. One of these was the constant breakdowns of the vehicle he was driving at the time. He therefore decided to buy his first brand-new van, a Fiat Ducato.

At the beginning of 1986, he started delivering leaflets to businesses in industrial estates, explaining the services he could offer. Little by little, his customer base began to grow.

First Logo

EMDIPA (EMpresa DIstribuidora de PAqueterÍa)

Growing the team

Little by little, Sergio began taking on more transport jobs, but soon found himself with more work than he could handle alone with his van. He therefore contacted another haulier and began assigning transport jobs to him, which Sergio invoiced to the customers.

Motorcycle courier services

In 1989, EMDIPA began providing motorcycle courier services. The motorcycle seats were modified and fitted with a delivery box — something commonly seen among food delivery riders today, but innovative and unusual at the time. Sergio also purchased more vans in different sizes, as well as his first 3,500 kg lorry.

As time went on, Sergio needed more and more hauliers to work with him in order to meet customer demand, and the team continued to grow.

Shortly afterwards, Sergio realised that the project needed a more formal structure and, in 1992, he established a limited company which, naturally, he named EMDIPA, S.L.