Shortsea Shipping requests differential treatment from Europe and the IMO
- Cartagena will host the Association's Annual Conference
05-08-2019 (Ministry of Public Works). The General Assembly of the Shortsea Promotion Center (SPC Spain) met yesterday, May 7th, at the headquarters of Puertos del Estado and went over the activities carried out over 2018 as well as the main events in the national and international scene that influence the activity of Shortsea Shipping: environmental regulation, especially the upcoming entry into force of the regulation that limits sulphur content in marine fuels and the actions taken for Shortsea Shipping (SSS) to enjoy a differentiated consideration when it comes to establishing new regulations, both European and in the IMO, a revision of the European Regulation on waste removal in ports, the all-purpose European helpdesk or the advances in the regulation of stowage services in Spain.
Other highlights were the positive numbers presented by SSS in our country. It is regrettable that the possible incentive within the framework of the Medatlantic Econobus Project, which the Ministry of Public Works is very committed to, cannot be established in time to compensate the additional costs caused by the new environmental regulation that came into force in January 2019 for shipping lines, which will possibly reduce the competitiveness of SSS.
The Port of Cartagena was confirmed as the location of the Association's next Annual Conference, to be held on November 20th. It will address issues such as the imminent 2020 challengefor Shortsea Shipping services; What does the road require from SSS to use it? or innovation and technology at the service of a competitive and efficient SSS.
Finally there was the election for President, Vice Presidents and Spokespersons for the Association's Management Board. The current president, ANAVE (Manuel Carlier) and two Vice Presidents, Puertos del Estado (Jaime Luezas) and CETM (Ovidio de la Roza) were renewed. The Management Board is also constituted with 7 spokespersons: Port Authority of Barcelona (Ana Arévalo), Port Authority of Cartagena (Fernando Muñoz), Port Authority of Valencia (Mar Chao), Port Authority of Santander (Patricio Arrarte), Port Authority of Tarragona (Leticia Morales), FETEIA-OLTRA (Agustín Montori), and GRIMALDI (Antonio Vargas).