In the Interport Compensation Fund Distribution Committee
The grants corresponding to the second call for the Ideas modality of the Ports 4.0 Fund are approved
1-07-2022 (Puertos del Estado Public Body). The Distribution Committee of the Interport Compensation Fund, which held an online meeting today, has approved the provisional resolution of the grants award by Puertos del Estado, in the Ideas modality, corresponding to the call of 30 September 2021, of the Ports 4.0 Fund, (BOE of 20 October 2021), within the framework of the Plan for the Promotion of Entrepreneurship for Innovation in the Port System.
The deadline for applications was 21 December; 59 applications were submitted, 47 of which were accepted and, following evaluation, 30 were finally approved for financing from the fund. . Overall, the approved ideas represent the allocation of €450,000, €45,000 of which corresponding to the Intra-entrepreneurship modality and €405,000 to the General modality.
The Committee also approved the annual accounts of the Port Land Accessibility Financial Fund for the financial year 2021.
The president of Puertos del Estado, M Alvaro Rodriguez Dapena, pointed out that "we are emerging from the pandemic at a good pace in goods traffic, although somewhat less so in passenger traffic". In the first area, 545 million tonnes were reached in the 2021 financial year. In the cumulative period from January to May 2022, total port traffic reaches a value of 236.6 million tonnes, 7.35% higher than in the same period of 2021.
"Passenger traffic also shows an upward trend, but it is more difficult to recover pre-pandemic levels. The evolution is better in regular traffic than in cruise traffic, where we nevertheless expect to end the year very close to the historical record of number of stopovers". In this sense, he emphasised the importance of the Operation Paso del Estrecho, which especially affects the ports of Ceuta and Melilla and the south of the peninsula, which he trusts will gradually recover this year, although pre-pandemic levels have not yet been reached.
