The Port Authority of the Bay of Algeciras (APBA) hosted the seventh and last panel of experts for the development of the first Andalusian Strategy for Sustainable Blue Economy, promoted by the Ministry of Sustainability, Environment and Blue Economy of the Andalusian Regional Government, last Friday, July 14th, at the headquarters of the entity.
This conference, organised under the thematic panel “Logistics, Ports and Maritime Transport“, was attended by experts, associations and representatives from the port, logistics and maritime transport sectors, as well as from the academic and research fields, to gather knowledge and experiences that will be essential to determine the actions to be included in the future Strategy.
The institutional opening of the working session was attended by the President of the Port Authority of the Algeciras Bay, Gerardo Landaluce; the Mayor of Algeciras, José Ignacio Landaluce; the Director General of the Public Ports Agency of Andalusia, Rafael Merino, and the Secretary General for Sustainability, Environment and Blue Economy, María del Mar Plaza.
Gerardo Landaluce has highlighted during his intervention in the Conference that the ports are critical and strategic infrastructures: “They are so as powerful economic engines that facilitate and give competitiveness to our foreign trade and, especially, in the current world geo-economic situation in which both the energy transition towards a decarbonised economy and the proper energy autonomy of the European Commission, have become the priority for ports”.
The participation of representatives of the APBA throughout the session has been remarkable, among which are the presentations of the Head of Electrotechnical Infrastructures, Francisco Iglesias, who exposed the Project of implementation of the Onshore Power Supply (OPS) technology in the APBA during the panel entitled “Sustainability and energy transition: The role of the ports of general interest and their Port and Industrial Communities”; the intervention of the Head of the Business Development Department, Nicolás Martínez, who was in charge of highlighting the capacities of the Port of Algeciras as a geostrategic logistical node of Southern Europe in general, and of the Strait of Gibraltar in particular, during the panel entitled “Andalusia, operational base for proximity logistics in the Europe/North Africa relationship”; and the participation of the Head of the Technological Development Area, Jesús Medina, in the round table discussion entitled “Digitalisation, innovation and the new associated port ecosystems as levers of competitiveness and new businesses”.
Medina himself highlighted during his speech the fundamental role played by innovation to support the energy transition, the decarbonisation of the industry and the development of the sustainable blue economy. In it, he emphasised how the Port of Algeciras is carrying out its digital transformation process, articulated on the pillars of competitiveness and operational orchestration, sustainability and climate neutrality, and innovation; which has allowed, at present, to have tools to eliminate waste in favour of operational and environmental efficiency.
Medina was joined at his round table by the Co-Founder and Chief Technology and Innovation Officer of NextPort, Dr. Óscar Pernía; the Chief Information Officer of REMESA, Manuel Barral; and the Director General of Research Planning of the Junta de Andalucía, Mª del Mar Cerbán.
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