The president of Puertos del Estado, Ornella Chacón, unveils the VII Congress of the Technical Association of Ports and Coastlines
Environmental concerns and sustainability gain added weight in port management
- Spain, a European and international benchmark when it comes to the planning, design, construction and operation of maritime infrastructure and facilities
- Port of Seville to host the VII Congress of the ATPYC and the IV edition of "Mediterranean Days of Coastal and Port Engineering"
17-10-2018 (Ministry of Public Works). The president of Puertos del Estado, Ornella Chacón, accompanied by the chairman of the Port Authority of Seville, Manuel Gracia, has today opened the VII Congress of the Technical Association of Ports and Coastlines (ATPYC), which will run from 17 to 19 October in the city of Seville. During her opening address, Ornella Chacón claimed that Spanish technology applied to the port and coastal sectors has made huge progress over the last few decades, making our country a benchmark across Europe and the world when it comes to the planning, design, construction and operation of maritime infrastructure and facilities.
The VII Congress coincides with the twentieth anniversary of the creation of the ATPYC. According to the president of Puertos del Estado, this is an excellent opportunity to reflect on how far we have come over the last twenty years, but above all, to look forward and shape the association's future over the coming years. Ornella Chacón was quick to point out that the motto chosen for this congress, "Working with Nature" –which will be the subject of a large number of the talks and presentations to be given over the course of the event– is there to stress the importance of environment concerns, which are now a top priority guiding the decisions of port and maritime management companies so that our work and activities integrate as seamlessly as possible within our environment.
Meanwhile, Manuel Gracia highlighted the Port of Seville's commitment to championing innovative solutions that will ultimately help ensure the sustainability of port activities. On this point, he stressed the efforts being made by the Port Authority to build a solid and lasting strategy geared towards sustainability. This is to be based on a careful diagnosis of the natural environment; on establishing and defining rules and guidelines that will allow us to harmoniously combine port activity with the environment; and on promoting sustainable transport chains to mitigate the effects of climate change.
In the words of the president of the Port Authority of Seville: "We aim to achieve environmental excellence across all port operations, as envisioned in the new 2025 Strategic Plan of the Port of Seville".
Also in attendance at the opening ceremony were the Regional Minister of Development and Housing for Andalusia, Felipe López; the first deputy mayor of Seville City Council, Carmen Castreño; and the chairmen of the ATPYC, Francisco Esteban, and of PIANC, Geoffroy Caude.
'Working with nature' has brought together in Seville over 200 professionals from the port and coastal sectors of European countries such as Luxembourg, Portugal, France, Italy, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands, as well as representatives from the United States, the Philippines, Australia and Japan, among other countries. Over the three days of the event, participants will attend 37 talks providing prime examples of sustainable port management, before rounding off the event with a visit to the facilities of the Port of Seville.
- IV EDITION OF "MEDITERRANEAN DAYS OF COASTAL AND PORT ENGINEERING"
The VII National Congress will be held in conjunction with the fourth edition of "Mediterranean Days of Coastal and Port Engineering". Organised by the Spanish section of PIANC with the support of the Italian and French sections, this joint event provides an excellent opportunity for the representatives from the different countries to exchange knowledge and experiences on matters of interest to the association.
These "Medday" events have become a key feature of PIANC's agenda to promote regional cooperation and thanks to their enormous success they are already being replicated in other parts of the world. They are set to continue at forthcoming events to be held in Italy and France under the agreement reached between the three national sections of PIANC.
Created in 1998, the ATPYC was initially conceived with the overriding aim of representing the Spanish National Section at the World Association for Waterborne Transport Infrastructure (PIANC-AIPCN), from which it was born. Nowadays, the ATPYC has nearly four hundred members, including both individuals and corporations, all forming the largest national section of PIANC in terms of numbers and one of the most active in the world when it comes to levels of participation, organising activities and generating technical documentation.
- ABOUT THE PORT OF SEVILLE
The Port of Seville is Spain's only inland maritime port. It is a benchmark multimodal port facility driving the main logistical and industrial cluster to be found in the south of the Iberian peninsula. It is a port of strategic importance for Europe, since it acts as the main hub for the Core Network, and forms an integral part of the Mediterranean corridor of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T), as well as the navigable waterway of the Guadalquivir, which has been proposed as an extension to the Atlantic corridor given the huge importance to Europe of inland navigable waterways.
There are some 200 companies now operating within and around the Port of Seville, including both port companies and related enterprises, generating between them over 20,000 jobs. The impact on the economy of this port industry and of ancillary port activity exceeds 1.1 billion euros, accounting for 3% of GDP for the province of Seville and nearly 1% of GDP for the autonomous community of Andalusia.
