Paulo Duarte Group Appoints Fábio Santos to Strengthen Leadership Team
Paulo Duarte Group Appoints Fábio Santos to Strengthen Leadership Team
The Paulo Duarte Group, a leading Iberian logistics operator, announced the appointment of Fábio Santos to its administration board. The move aims to strengthen leadership capabilities and drive operational efficiency as the company expands its presence in Portugal and Spain following recent acquisitions.
The Paulo Duarte Group, a major logistics and road transport operator in the Iberian Peninsula, has appointed Fábio Santos to its administration board. The appointment is part of a broader strategy to reinforce leadership capabilities as the company consolidates its growth across Portugal and Spain.
Santos joins the group from Sonae, where he led the transport division until 2025. His background includes extensive experience in operations management within the large consumer goods sector. In addition to his corporate roles, Santos serves as a professor of Financial Management at Nova School of Business & Economics (Nova SBE), combining academic instruction with practical industry knowledge.
Gustavo Paulo Duarte, Co-CEO of the Paulo Duarte Group, stated that the organization has reached an operational scale that presents new management challenges. He emphasized the priority of maximizing the benefits of the group's established scale and specialization to enhance resource efficiency and competitiveness.
"The appointment of Fábio Santos responds to this ambition," Gustavo Paulo Duarte said. "We are reinforcing not only our leadership structure but also our capacity to execute strategy and generate value for our customers."
Santos highlighted the company's solid position in the Iberian market, noting that its size and specialization offer significant competitive advantages. He expressed his commitment to contributing to the next stage of development by leveraging existing capabilities.
"I believe that the true value of growth lies in the ability to translate it into efficiency, sustained results, and an increasingly competitive response to customer needs," Santos added.
The leadership change follows the group's August 2026 acquisition of the Spanish company Barquin y Otcoa. This transaction strengthened the Paulo Duarte Group's presence in the temperature-controlled transport and logistics segment. Founded in 1946, the group operates through entities including Transportes Paulo Duarte (TPD), Cisternas Hurtrans, IBEREN, and Barquin y Otcoa, serving clients in energy, consumer goods, distribution, and industry.
The appointment comes as the family-owned group addresses increasing sector complexity. In August, the company projected consolidated revenue of approximately 240 million euros for 2026.
C.Barbier--PP
