Insular Carrocera, better known as Insucar, is one of the four companies that make up Grupo Castrosua. Unlike Carsa, Cidsa, and Castrosua itself, Insucar is located more than 2,000 km away, specifically in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
Its main objective is to repair the bodies sold to the Islands, but from there we also provide technical advice and spare parts sales. In addition, transformations have been made for floats and stages for the Las Palmas carnival, as well as adaptations, repairs, and renovations of trucks in general, fire trucks, and trailers.
Let’s learn a little more about this part of the great Castrosua family:
Starting to roll in Las Palmas
In the early 1980s, a group of Galician workers, no more than four, were sent by Castrosua to Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. In the following months, they would have to teach customers how to treat the bodies to extend their useful life. This is because, if there is one thing that characterizes this environment, it is undoubtedly its beauty, but also the humidity and saltpeter, two catalysts for the appearance of corrosion in buses.
The need in the Canary Islands was evident. Therefore, following that intervention, several of the most important clients proposed making that initially temporary service a continuous one. A part of Castrosua could take root there, grow, and provide its services permanently to the Islands. Thus, in 1985, Insular Carrocera, S.A. was founded.
More than three decades dedicated to serving the Islands
When our island adventure began, we didn’t even have a phone. Communication with the rest of the world was done through a payphone.
34 years later, this company is perfectly integrated into the business fabric of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
Today, Insucar has 24 employees, and we have gone from the initial 2,000 square meters to the 6,000 that make up the new facilities, inaugurated in 2001.
The pride of a job well done
One of the Galician workers who arrived in Las Palmas on that first expedition was Manuel Oliveira do Río, who would be Insucar’s workshop manager until his retirement in 2014.
“The beginnings were tough and with very few resources,” recalls Manuel, “but, over time, both working conditions and the machinery used were perfected, which allowed the company to improve and evolve.”
“When I joined, at the beginning,” Manuel continues, “with the creation of the new company, we had to make ourselves known to the market and generate reliability. Over time, we have been strengthening these credentials and this reliability, for which I feel partly responsible. For this reason, I have very good memories.”
After a lifetime dedicated to working in the Insucar workshop, Manuel now enjoys a well-deserved rest with his family.
New incorporations, more talent at Insucar
From a veteran figure like Manuel, we move on to Insucar’s most recent incorporation, but no less special or valuable for the company’s future. We are talking about Yurena Vega Reyes, who since March 1st holds the position of Production Manager.
Yurena is a senior engineer. She has extensive experience in the industrial sector and comes from a company dedicated to the manufacture of industrial mortars, where she held the position of plant manager, performing all the functions inherent to the role: direction and management of the activities of an industrial plant, development of projects and budgets, coordination in the organization of human teams, responsibility for health and safety in the factory…
It is thanks to people like Manuel, to his effort and dedication over so many years, that today we can talk about Insular Carrocera as a successful project. But the future of this company would not be possible without the incorporation of new professionals like Yurena, with so much talent and capacity to keep us growing as the bus sector in our country does.
