​The management team of Puertos del Estado will have parity

• Pilar Parra Serrano and Mar Chao López appointed Director of Corporate and Puertos del Estado Operations
• 13 of the 28 Port Authorities will reduce the rates, and all the traffic with the extra peninsular territories will be subsidized.
• The port system will invest 1.001 million euros in 2021, and more than 4.500 million between 2020-2024
• Francisco Toledo: The investment plan of the Port Authorities will contribute to the economic growth the country needs as well as the modernization of the ports with the important elements of sustainability, digitalization and energy.

18-12-2020 (Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda) The Governing Council of Puertos del Estado held today unanimously approved the appointments of Pilar Parra Serrano and Mar Chao López as new Corporate and Operations Directors, respectively. Both directors have a long professional career in the port sector, which, in addition to achieving parity in senior management and the Steering Committee, will strengthen the management capacity of the public body.

Pilar Parra, the new Corporate Director, has a Doctorate in Civil Engineering. Until today, she has been head of the Business Plans and Budgets Area of Puertos del Estado. Previously she had held various positions of responsibility (General Director, Head of Operations and Head of the Infrastructure Division) at the Melilla Port Authority.

Mar Chao, new Director of Operation, is a Civil Engineer, with a degree in Law, an MBA and a Masters in Maritime Law from the University of A Coruña. Until today she has been the Commercial and Development Director of the Port Authority of Valencia, and previously she was the General Director of the Reyser Group and the General Director of Transport of the Xunta de Galicia. At the Port Authority of Vigo she was responsible for Port Management and Operations, and at the Port of A Coruña she was responsible for Service Provision.

Likewise, the Governing Council has approved the budgets of the port system for 2021, which according to the President of Puertos del Estado, Francisco Toledo, will be aligned with the Strategic Framework and improve competitiveness by lowering costs for port operators through reduced fees and increased subsidies. The average fee reduction among the 13 Port Authorities that will do so is 6.9% for ships, 16.9% for passengers and 7.3% for merchandise and will mean savings of 27 million in fees for the operators. The average bonuses agreed upon in order to support the regular maritime services linking the peninsula and the extra peninsular territories, exceed 20% in the three rates: passenger, merchandise and ship.

The budget includes a net turnover of 1.106 million euros for 2021, a 5.4% increase in personnel costs to cope with the increase in staff and the provisions of the 3rd Collective Bargaining Agreement for the Port Sector; and a 9.4% increase in operating costs. As a novelty, for the first time the payment of corporate tax is included in the budgets, as reflected in Royal Decree Law 26/2020.

Regarding the investment plan, it will amount to 1.001 million euros in 2021, and will exceed 4.500 million euros for the period of 2021-2024, to which 4.200 million euros of private investment will be added, as a clustering effect of public investment.

Differentiated by blocks, the largest investments will be dedicated to land connections of the ports, especially railways, to which 809 million euros will be allocated, adding those that will be dedicated by the ports to their internal networks and those included in the Financial Fund for Port Land Accessibility between 2021 and 2024.

A second block of investments will be dedicated to environmental sustainability and energy to make the ports a spearhead for mitigating the effects of climate change. This area includes more than 100 million euros until 2024, of which 32 million will be executed in 2021.

A third area will be security. To comply with the agreements reached with the IMO on protection, 83 million euros will be invested between 2020-2024, of which 30 million will be for 2021.

Digitalization, a commitment to innovation essential for ports, will be boosted with 50 million euros in 2021, totalling more than 200 million until 2024.

In another area of vital importance for the ports, being port-city integration, an investment of 170 million has been budgeted until 2024.

Francisco Toledo has highlighted that the investment plan of the Port Authorities will contribute to the economic growth the country needs, and to the modernization of the ports with the important elements of sustainability, digitalization and energy.

Finally, the Governing Council has approved the Puertos del Estado budget for 2021, which takes into account revenues of 31.7 million euros, personnel expenses of 10.1 million euros, and operating expenses of 21.8 million euros.