"Ports of Spain: Once you're there, you're everywhere", the Spanish motto for presenting infrastructure and services at the Transport Logistic Fair in Munich
Spain presents its ports as logistics platforms for connecting continents
- Europe hoards almost 50% of the movement of goods from Spanish ports
08-05-2017 (Ministry of Public Works). A representation of 15 Spanish Port Authorities (A Coruña, Bay of Cadiz, Barcelona, Bilbao, Cartagena, Castellón, Ferrol, Huelva, Las Palmas, Motril, S.C. Tenerife, Seville, Tarragona, Valencia, Vigo, Vilagarcía), are joined by ICEX and the Salón Internacional de la Logística (SIL), all of which are coordinated by Puertos del Estado under the motto "Ports of Spain: Once you're there, you're everywhere" will be at the Transport Logistic Fair 2017, which is the largest and most important trade fair hosted in Europe for the logistics and transport sector and which is being held in the German city of Munich from 9 to 12 May.
Representing Spain and providing a platform for southern Europe under the "Ports of Spain" brand, the main aim is to consolidate the perception of Spain as the ideal connection for attracting not only import/export goods between Spain and the main nerve centre of the European economy, but also as a base for transport by sea. Commercial flow with European countries exceeded 227 million tons in 2016, and more than 46% of the goods moved through Spanish ports had a European country as their origin/destination. Considering continents, Europe moved double the goods moved with Africa, which stands at 101.7 million tons (20.7%), ranking in second place, followed by America with 86.7 million (17.6%), and Asia with 72.1 million (14.7%).
The immediate goal is to increase the traffic of Spanish ports with the main ports in Europe, and in particular with German ports, (Hamburg and Bremen mainly, given that 70% of import/export commerce is moved with them by sea between Spain and Germany) with which Spain already moves almost 3 million tons, and to foster future logistics chains that start from the Iberian Peninsula and manage to attract goods in transit with an origin/destination at the main centres of production and consumption in Europe.
GOODS TRAFFIC THROUGH SPANISH PORTS 2016
(GLOBAL AREAS)
| Global Area | UNLOADING | LOADING | TRANSIT | TOTAL |
| Global Total | 235,662,660 | 134,401,179 | 121,145,582 | 491,209,421 |
| EUROPEAN UNION | 77,255,885 | 69,478,263 | 36,903,971 | 183,638,119 |
| REST OF WESTERN EUROPE | 8,791,923 | 4,787,908 | 7,301,317 | 20,881,148 |
| EASTERN EUROPE | 20,833,232 | 962,924 | 1,644,181 | 23,440,337 |
| NORTH AMERICA | 22,517,088 | 9,672,894 | 8,813,885 | 41,003,867 |
| SOUTH AMERICA | 24,962,566 | 5,606,230 | 10,663,513 | 41,232,309 |
| CENTRAL AMERICA | 1,708,241 | 2,083,007 | 708,932 | 4,500,180 |
| NORTHERN AFRICA | 37,340,171 | 22,105,172 | 24,836,761 | 84,282,104 |
| SOUTHERN AFRICA | 7,750,752 | 3,009,597 | 6,686,463 | 17,446,812 |
| MIDDLE EAST | 14,966,138 | 7,221,635 | 6,649,599 | 28,837,372 |
| REST OF ASIA | 17,746,265 | 9,061,853 | 16,532,941 | 43,341,059 |
| OCEANIA | 1,790,399 | 411,696 | 404,019 | 2,606,114 |
- DEBATE ON THE CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES OF TRANSPORT AND LOGISTICS
During the Fair numerous conferences will be hosted to review the challenges and opportunities for ports and companies to contribute to optimising the European transport system and overcoming existing problems of congestion. Furthermore, there will be an analysis of the opportunities to strengthen the role of ports in sea connectivity and logistic chains with the markets on other continents.
As is known, the Trans-European Transport Network hopes to integrate all modes of transport, improving interoperability and eliminating bottlenecks. In this new scenario, the market will benefit from the new and more efficient transport and logistic chains being formed in southern Europe, achieving a balance as regards transport and logistic flows through competitiveness.
