Online giant Amazon is reported to be setting up a delivery depot in the centre of Barcelona as well as a major regional distribution centre near the city’s airport according to local reports.

The city’s local media have reported that the company will use the depot in Rossello Street to arrange same day and “express” deliveries to customers in the city centre. The same reports suggest that the property in the centre of the city used to belong to the publishing company Gustavo Gili and that it has a very large underground warehouse.

The logistics centre near the airport will serve Spain and other parts of southern Europe. With Amazon reportedly testing a pan European air cargo service to move its goods regionally, this may be part of a wider plan to ramp up the infrastructure ahead of any launch of that service.

Amazon already has a logistics centre in Madrid, and the country’s economy is still in recovery from the European financial crash a few years ago. It is not one of the strongest economies in terms of ecommerce in the EU, but this investment suggests that online giant views Barcelona and the region of Catalonia as a fairly safe bet.

There is also the issue of Catalonia taking steps to leave greater Spain politically, with recent regional government elections favouring the separatists. It is well known that Amazon pays little heed to politics, but having the infrastructure in place for an independent Catalonia state would make a lot of sense, since the region is doing relatively well economically by comparison to other parts of Castillian ruled Spain. No major steps have been taken by the newly mandated government of Catalonia to separate, but other than the strong economy in the area this may be taking steps to ensure business remains even if borders go up.