2024-04-14 15:04:37
Practically all Portuguese immigrants in Luxembourg have, at some point, needed to send boxes to Portugal. Or bringing goods from there to here. The “little treats” at home, as Manu calls them.
Manu to his friends, this is the nickname of César Manuel Ferreira, 43 years old, managing partner of the company Transportes Carlos & César, based in Clervaux, in the north of the country. Carlos is the name of Manu’s partner and uncle, who manages the branch in Mortágua, the company’s base in Portugal. Since 2015, they have been transporting all types of goods, back and forth, every week.
“In January 2025, we will be 10 years old”, rejoices Manu. In fact, the company is almost 45 years old, because at the time the two partners bought the old Taxis Andrade, which had already been in operation for 35. “My uncle was a driver for the company for 20 years. With his help, it was easy. We have the same customer base”, explains the businessman.
In Lisbon we do it every 15 days, sometimes with two vans. We covered everything between Lisbon and Porto.
Manu Ferreira
Currently, the company has 6,200 customers in Luxembourg alone and a similar number in Portugal. “We have employees here and there. There are five of us in total, with a fleet of seven vans, four here and three in Portugal. And two sub-rented trucks per week, one up and one down, always on Wednesdays”.
Manu is also a driver of one of the company’s vans. © Credits: Chris Karaba
The businessman recognizes that, like him, there are several other companies transporting from Luxembourg to Portugal. “But there aren’t many people doing it every week like us”, he says. Vans make collections and deliveries. In Luxembourg, it works in sections and “a lot of logistics is required”. On Monday, collections begin in the south of the country, while another van travels throughout the north at the end of the day.
On Tuesday, they cover the entire Mosele region, while one of the employees receives orders in the capital, at the warehouse in Hollerich. At night, they load the truck, which leaves early on Wednesday for Portugal. “It arrives at our facilities in Mortágua on Friday. Everything is distributed with two or three vans, depending on the load”.
One van goes to Seia, in Serra da Estrela, another to the Coimbra area, another to Guarda and, on Mondays, the Porto area, for deliveries and collections. “In Lisbon we do it every 15 days, sometimes with two vans, on Friday. We do everything between Lisbon and Porto. We have fixed dates that can be consulted on our website”, explains Manu.
More people returning to Portugal
In the opposite direction, a truck leaves Portugal for the Grand Duchy on Wednesday night. They mainly come with furniture, because “furniture is cheaper there”, but also the “little treats” that parents send to their children. “We have a refrigerated truck once a month, for people to send everything they grow, in terms of meat, homemade chickens, potatoes, lots of olive oil and wine… It’s bringing memories of Portugal to Luxembourg”.
Transport is charged both at the unit price, with one euro per kilo, and by volume, explains Manu. “There are things outside the format, which are volume-based. Gearboxes, of around 80 liters, cost around 20 or 25 euros. It depends on where you’re going, if you go to Lisbon it’s 5 euros more expensive, for example.”
We have a lot of changes from here to there. Luxembourg is at a turning point. People come under illusion, because this is no longer paradise.
Manu Ferreira
Shipping of goods is “relatively fast”. If a person places an order that can be delivered or collected on a Tuesday and goes to the Coimbra area, the goods will arrive on Friday. “You will have your order in Portugal in three or four days”, guarantees the businessman.
Gearboxes, of around 80 liters, cost around 20 or 25 euros. © Credits: Chris Karaba
To Portugal, people send washing machines and furniture, because of the changes. Manu believes that there are more people returning to the country than coming from there to here. “Currently we have a lot of changes from here to there. Luxembourg is at a turning point. People come from Portugal deluded, because this is no longer paradise. It used to be, but now it isn’t. It’s complicated for a lot of people. It is impossible to live in Luxembourg on just one salary.”
The Portuguese of the capital. Rui Manuel, the boss of Primavera supermarkets
Over the last 10 years, the business has remained mostly stable, but the number of customers has increased after the pandemic, which was a more complicated period due to the closure of borders. “But otherwise, he was always working. There are more and more people looking for this type of service”, he acknowledges.
Only rest on Sunday
In terms of large goods, such as vehicles, the company only transports motorbikes, but not cars, which they direct to other partner services. There are many requests, which is why Manu believes that the Portuguese has changed his mentality a little in recent years. “Today car rental prices are exorbitant. It’s more worthwhile to send a car to be in Portugal for three or four weeks than to rent a car.”
Manu is always busy from Monday to Saturday. Despite living in Germany, he spends every day in Luxembourg. On Mondays and Tuesdays, he takes care of collections and deliveries, as he is also a driver and drives one of the vans. From Wednesday to Friday he is mostly at the office in Clervaux. The company has a large pavilion in Villerupt, on the French border with Esch-sur-Alzette, and a support warehouse in Hollerich. “On Saturdays we also do distributions all day long, we only rest on Sundays.”
The worst part is the physical effort. Some boxes are heavy, weighing 50 or 60 kg, huge for one person to pick up.
Manu Ferreira
It is the 43-year-old businessman who manages all the work in Luxembourg, from customer service to driver routes. There was a time when Manu also drove vans with goods to Bordeaux, where he traded with his partner who came from Portugal, but it was “very tiring”, he recalls.
Some boxes weigh up to 50 or 60 kg. © Credits: Chris Karaba
The part he enjoys most about his work is contact with customers, because “it’s great to meet and talk to people from different parts of Portugal”. The worst part is the physical effort, since some boxes are heavy, weighing 50 or 60 kg, which are “huge for just one person to pick up”. And the traffic, of course, is “very complicated”, both in Luxembourg and in Portugal.
From kindergarten teacher to football club president
César Manuel is from Mortágua and arrived in Luxembourg in 1989, with his parents, when he was just eight years old. He lived in the Mosele area, studied in Belgium to train as a kindergarten teacher and even opened a daycare center in Diekirch. But that wasn’t the profession that really made him happy. In January 2015, he had the opportunity to buy the transport company with his partner Carlos.
Manu is married to a Hungarian woman and has two children, an 11-year-old girl and an 18-month-old baby. They live in Arzfeld, Germany. Whenever he can, he goes to Portugal, about seven or eight times a year. He even organizes excursions with groups of friends from a German football club, of which he is president. “In 2016 we went to visit Porto with 41 people, in 2022 we went to Lisbon with 56 people and this year we are going to Lisbon again. They are all passionate about Portugal and gastronomy”.
The Portuguese of the capital. Rodrigo, the football and picanha man in a café in Hamm
The Portuguese spends his free time with football, friends and children. He misses seafood and Portuguese food, but he doesn’t think about returning to his country for good. “My children will grow up and study here. There is nothing that pulls me to return to Portugal. I intend to stay here. The important thing is to be healthy and continue to have our loyal customers, of whom fortunately there are many”, he concludes.
2024-04-14 15:04:37