Toledo asks PIPE to follow the path of State Ports and MITMA and increase private investment in ports

• Toledo is committed to the selective lowering of fees in those Port Authorities whose economic results may allow it

16-09-2020 (Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda) The country needs a powerful productive investment plan that injects resources to activate the economy, which creates jobs while they are being developed and that boosts economic growth once they are completed. So the Spanish Government, as announced by Minister José Luis Ábalos, is working on an ambitious reconstruction plan, focused on digitalization, security, decarbonization, sustainability and land connectivity, in which ports will provide 4.7 billion in four years (2021-2024). This important public investment in ports, which will exceed 1.2 billion in 2021 (almost doubling the 656 million expected in 2020), needs to be complemented by private investment to gain effectiveness in the country's economic reactivation and to improve the competitiveness of Spanish ports so that they can take advantage of the wave of growth once COVID-19 has been beaten.

The President of Puertos del Estado, Francisco Toledo, has asked the Platform of Investors in Spanish Ports (PIPE) to follow the path of MITMA and invest without fear in order to make the reactivation more vigorous, since its contribution is essential to the proper functioning of public-private partnership, which has given such good results in the development of port infrastructure. He has also asked them to send to State Ports the private investment plan they have planned for the next four years in order to complete the reconstruction scenario. He has assured that ports are a good investment in the future, which have demonstrated their strength in the COVID crisis by being essential to the functioning of the country.

With regard to the request for lowering fees demanded by PIPE, Toledo has said that this is an issue that must be studied very carefully because a general decline can unbalance the accounts of many port authorities. "It should be taken into account that 89% of the benefits of the port system come from only 9 port authorities, while the remaining 19 provide 11%". Toledo bets on selective reduction in those Port Authorities whose economic results can allow it and, as we have been working on the business plans, it will be confirmed in the state budget project that several ports are invested in it.

On the other hand, Toledo shared with PIPE the draft Strategic Framework of the port system, which focused on the need for the Spanish port system to be at the global forefront of environmental protection for the sake of general interest.

Furthermore, at the meeting held in Santander, it was advanced that the strategic development model has to be sustainable in its triple dimension: environmental, economic and social. In that sense, all the strategic lines will be linked to the 17 ODS, the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

The Spanish ports have to keep betting on digitalization, synchromodality and environmental commitment. Also, the need for port infrastructure to be demand-driven, reliable, connected and sustainable was identified. Therefore, rail connections, the electrification of the docks to provide electricity to ships during their stay in port, energy self-sufficiency with renewable energy, improved energy efficiency and reduced carbon footprint will be promoted.