Every November it's the same scene: Black Friday arrives, there aren't enough vans, and the ones left go at whatever price the owner names. You almost always need less extra capacity than you think, if you do the maths with stops per route, time windows and shifts. And if you start now, not in peak week.
By Routal Team
Eight delivery route planning tools compared for fleets of 5 to 25 vans in Spain: time windows, offline driver app, proof of delivery, API, Spanish-language support and published pricing, with sources.
Since 5 October 2026 Spain's transport control document is only valid in electronic form, with no grace period. What inspectors ask for, what it costs not to carry it, who is exempt and what to do if you're not set up yet.
Google Maps, Shopify, WooCommerce and Business Central all have one, and a new version of the standard shipped in July 2026. What an MCP is, what you can ask it, what it doesn’t do, and how to connect one.
Diesel is the number you check every week because it changes every week. Meanwhile, the cost of an hour of driver time and of putting a van on the road have been climbing for years. And in urban delivery you pay almost all of that whether you make 40 deliveries or 80. That's where the saving the pump receipt never shows you is hiding.
By Xavier Ruiz
On 5 October 2026 Spain's transport control document stops being valid on paper. It is called the DeCA, its technical rules are already published, and it affects every public road freight service you run in Spain. Here is what changes, who is responsible for what, and a checklist to get there without a scramble.
By Xavier Ruiz
Every demo draws stops on a map and promises fewer kilometres. The difference shows up in week three, when the plan breaks at seven in the morning. These are the five tests worth running before you sign.
By Xavier Ruiz
A TMS moves freight between locations. A Delivery Management System executes the last leg. They are not rivals: they cover different halves of the same journey. Here is how to tell which half is breaking in your operation.
Demand's up 30% in summer and the easy answer is to rent two more vans. But an extra van in August is an idle van in October. There's almost always hidden capacity in the routes you already have. Here's how to unlock it before spending on more fleet.
By Xavier Ruiz
The customer wants their time slot and you want an efficient route. In summer, with events, fairs, and closed streets, those two things seem impossible at once. But choosing between meeting the window or not losing kilometers is a false dilemma. Here's how to do both.
By Xavier Ruiz
Low emission zones are no longer just two big cities' business: they're mandatory in many municipalities, and in summer tourist centers fill with cameras, closed streets, and restrictions. You don't see the fine: it arrives weeks later. Here's how to deliver in an LEZ without scares.
By Xavier Ruiz
In summer, the cold chain has far less margin. And the weakest link is almost always the same: the last mile. One door-open too many, a route that drags, a failed delivery in the sun… and the product's no good. Here's where it breaks and how to protect it without slowing delivery.
By Xavier Ruiz
In August, a coastal town triples its population in a week. The bars order double, the streets close to traffic, and your same fleet has to reach them all before they open. Summer HORECA logistics isn't won with more vans: it's won with a better plan.
By Xavier Ruiz
You know paper's days are numbered. But digitizing the delivery note isn't scanning the same form into a PDF — it's taking friction away from your drivers, not adding it. Here's a five-step plan to do it without stopping the route for a single day.
By Xavier Ruiz
Almost everyone thinks a delivery costs less than it does. Fuel and wages are just the tip: planning time, failed deliveries, and overtime quietly eat your margin. Here's how to calculate your real cost per delivery — and see where the money you can recover is hiding.
By Xavier Ruiz
Last-mile delivery still runs on WhatsApp, phone calls, and the dispatcher's gut. Five daily frictions explain why operations keep firefighting instead of planning — and what changes when knowledge lives outside one person's head.
By Xavier Ruiz
From 1PL to 5PL, the number tells you how much of your logistics you've put in someone else's hands. What each provider does, real examples from Spain, Mexico and global trade, and the question that actually matters: how much control do you need over the delivery?
By Xavier Ruiz
