​The president of Puertos del Estado welcomes representatives of the Spanish Association of Ship Consignees (ASECOB)

De la Encina: the future List of Requirements for Trade Services related to Ship Consignment will help harmonize this profession

11-08-2019 (Ministry of Development). The president of Puertos del Estado, Salvador de la Encina, has welcomed representatives of the Spanish Association of Ship Consignees (Asecob), who have informed him of their concerns and needs, as a group with a huge presence and task in all means of transport. In this regard, Asecob showed great satisfaction with the initiative submitted by Puertos del Estado to draw up a standard List of Requirements for Trade Services related to Ship Consignment, which will help harmonize this profession. This standard form is currently underway, with the Association's active collaboration.

Another two topics discussed have been, on the one hand, the impact of the new European Regulation on the single maritime-port window. Although it will be applicable 5 years from now, both Puertos del Estado and Asecob consider that continuous work is necessary to avoid its start-up coinciding with the deadline. On the matter, it was commented that the Regulation offers operators the possibility of submitting all statements through a national single window system, without having to use each Port Authority's local system; this would be highly beneficial for consignees and would allow them to save on certain costs.

Furthermore, discussions were held on rationalization of the liability regime related to the coordination of business activities; Puertos del Estado has announced that it will soon send the Port Authorities a recommendation to coordinate business activities between consignees and the pilotage port service. Furthermore, by reference to the new European Directive on waste collection facilities, Asecob has raised the possibility of anchoring areas being released from the fixed tariff that all ships must pay, derived from waste collection services under the new regulations, which Puertos del Estado has backed up.

Although Puertos del Estado has no direct competence on some of the issues raised by Asecob, such as qualifications and professional training, or the Consignee Register, De la Encina has promised to support a claim before the Spanish Qualifications Institute (Incual) and to meet up with the General Directorate of the Merchant Navy to discuss the issue of the Register.

Finally, given the interest shown by Asecob's members in the SIMPLE project (a platform that covers the analysis, development, implantation and management of a useful prototype for a logistics data exchange system), arrangements will be made to present the project.