The president of Valenciaport defends the need for a large “hub” port to save companies costs.
Valencia, November the 22nd 2017. – “We play our future as a” hub “port and as a leader of the Mediterranean if we do not act with agility and intelligence to expand our area of influence in the interior of Spain. An action that necessarily involves enhancing connectivity between the ports of Valencia and Sagunto and bringing the railroad closer to our customers cargo centers”. In these terms, Aurelio Martínez, president of the Port Authority of Valencia, has defended the importance that a good connection between the logistics and industrial areas of the ports of Sagunto and Valencia will have in the coming years.
Aurelio Martínez participated this morning in Sagunto in the 16th Business Meeting organized by ASECAM (Association of Entrepreneurs of the Camp de Morvedre) in a round table with the president of the CEV, Salvador Navarro and the president of ADIF, Juan Bravo.
The president of Valenciaport said that “we are risking the bet for the future of the Valencian port with who are our main competitors; and we have to think that having a large transoceanic port that connects with other ports “hub” of the world next to our factories is a blessing for our companies. ”
“In the long term – Aurelio Martínez added – the cargo will continue its process of concentration. Therefore, there will be fewer and fewer large ports; and we do not want to stop being a great port. It is the great asset for companies to save costs. The port of Valencia is for the goods what a great airport like Frankfurt is for the people: a connection platform with everybody that saves costs and avoids intermediate scales for a more competitive import and export “.
The president of the Port Authority of Valencia has announced to the more than 400 businessmen attending the Meeting of ASECAM some figures of the last report of McKinsey & Company. This consultant, in its report on forecasts of the evolution of world trade presented last October predicts that within 50 years the transoceanic cargo ships will transport up to 50,000 containers; more than the double of last generation mega-ships.
In this regard and with a view to the future, but “looking at the present and what we have in front of us – said Aurelio Martinez – we must be aware that there is no other area so well connected, neither better located in the Mediterranean as Parc Sagunt, with its port and its future connections by sea, highway and train “.
Martinez contributed figures to show that the port of Valencia has margin to grow in the logistics areas of Aragon, and throughout the Cantabrian corridor, where “not everyone competes with the same conditions. In Madrid – he said – we all compete, but not in Aragon. In Aragón, we cannot compete because we cannot. Until now, the train could not circulate; and so you cannot compete.”
“For the port of Valencia and Sagunto, reaching the Cantabrian and all of Aragon, Rioja and Navarra is essential. This is what led us to invest and to commit investments outside our docks for more than 50 million euros. And everything has to be said – the president of the ports of Valencia and Sagunto wanted to point out – our investment proposal was very well taken on by the Ministry of Public Works, by the president of ADIF and by all the related sectors. Everything has to be said. And that’s good news for everyone. ”
Looking ahead, Aurelio Martinez showed the audience his conviction of the need to strengthen the Sagunto region as ZAI (Industrial Activities Zone).
That industrial force – he said – is good for the port and for Sagunto. Loyalty in traffic, makes new necessary services such as the PIF, requires expansion of terminals and makes its connection with the port of Valencia essential with a solution that generates the lowest possible environmental impact; and that solution is through a tunnel. A tunnel like so many others in Valencia; since it is absolutely strategic for the port and for future generations”.