​A delegation of Spanish and international companies and port authorities, coordinated by Puertos del Estado (Spanish State Ports), will participate at the Transport Logistic China fair

Spanish ports take up position on the new silk road

• Spanish ports transported more than 18.5 million tons to and from China
  
   

05-11-2018 (Spanish Ministry of Public Works and Transport). Puertos del Estado is leading the trade mission to present what Spain has to offer at the Transport Logistic China fair in Shanghai from May 16th to 18th. The stand has been organized by Puertos del Estado and the ports of Bay of Algeciras, Barcelona, Bilbao, Cartagena, Huelva and Valencia will have a presence at it, alongside the companies Renfe Operadora, Consorci de la Zona Franca de Barcelona, Suardíaz, and the main shipping companies and port authorities from around the world, such as MSC, Hutchison, Cosco and TTI Algeciras (Hyundai).

The main aim is to promote Spanish ports as the best, fastest and most efficient point of connection for sea voyages between China and Europe, as the time saved in reaching the heart of Europe has been quantified as 4 days, which becomes a total of 8 days for shipping line turnarounds, with the corresponding savings on fleets and the derived environmental benefits.

Since the Chinese government started up what is known as "the new silk route" in 2013, connecting China and Europe and including a sea voyage through the Mediterranean, Spain has been active in capturing a large amount of the goods moving between the two continents. More than 18.7 million tons going to or from China currently pass through Spanish ports and those located on the Mediterranean coast are the ones that benefit most from the increasing commercial exchange. It is significant that, of this maritime traffic, almost 40% of the goods coming from China are in transit. In other words, their final destination is a third country and, therefore, they use the Spanish ports with the best connections to reach their final destination.

• SPAIN IS THE STAR OF THE EVENT DEDICATED TO THE SPANISH MEDITERRANEAN CORRIDOR

At the fair and at the request of the organizers, Spain is organizing the conference "The Spanish Mediterranean Corridor – An Essential Part of the New Silk Road", which will be opened by the President of Puertos del Estado, José Llorca with the participation of representatives from Spanish Customs, Spanish ports and the world's main shipping companies.
 

The Asia-Europe corridor for goods traffic is the second most important in the world and is almost comparable with the Trans-Pacific corridor (23.1 million TEUs were transported through the Asia-Europe maritime corridor in 2017). In this regard, we should mention that Spain transported 46.1 million tons by sea with Asian countries as a whole, with China leading the market at 18.7 million tons—40% of the total transported—and far removed from India (7.7 million tons), Indonesia (6.9 million tons), Korea (2.8 million tons) and Japan (1 million tons).