The capital of the River Túria will be the venue for this event that brings together the main European maritime transport agents organised by the European Sea Ports Organisation (ESPO)
The 17th edition of this Conference, which has been held in València, Ghent and Oslo, closed today, where the role of the ports as engines of growth and sustainability has been analysed.
Speakers such as the MEP Inmaculada Rodríguez Piñero, the Commissioner of the Spanish Government for the Mediterranean Corridor, Josep-Vicent Boira or presidents of the main European ports and members of the European Commission have taken part
València, May 28th, 2021.- Valencia will hold the annual conference of the European Sea Ports Organisation (ESPO) in 2022. This was announced by the president of the Port Authority of Valencia (PAV), Aurelio Martínez during the closing of the 17th edition of this event which brings together European ports and agents involved in maritime traffic. “Today we close the REGATTA 2021 conference, a conference that will be held in Valencia next year. We will be proud to host what will be the first conference to take place normally since we last met in Livorno in 2019,” said Martínez.
The president of the PAV has participated by video conference in the closing of this year’s edition that began in Valencia, arrived in Ghent and today ends in Oslo. “Three days in which we have debated and learned about issues that will mark the immediate future of the industry. Thanks to all the speakers and participants for sharing their knowledge and points of view with us,” added Martínez.
REGATTA 2021 was inaugurated this Tuesday in the Clock Building with the participation of the president of the PAV, the president of ESPO, Annaleena Mäkilä; and the European Union Commissioner for Transport, Adina Vălean, where they highlighted the importance of port areas as an engine for economic recovery within the framework of the European Green Pact.
The event was attended by Josep-Vicent Boira, the Spanish Government Commissioner for the Mediterranean Corridor, who highlighted the importance of this corridor, which, along its approximately 3,000 km, links Southern Europe with the North, and the East with the West. “The Mediterranean Corridor connects twelve of the most important ports”, he stressed. Along these lines, Boira pointed out the need to pay attention to “the new economic map of the world, very important for the future, which will be less just in time and more just in case”. “We must adapt our infrastructures to this new geographical reality, and for this it is essential to transform transport, and to commit to digitalisation and intermodality,” he added.
The MEP Inmaculada Rodríguez Piñero, for her part, stressed during her speech “the importance of bringing an event of such importance to Valencia”. In this sense, she highlighted the efforts made by the Valencian Port Authority in terms of renewable energies, with projects such as the wind power plant, the commitment to photovoltaic energy or the electrification of the docks of the Port of Valencia through the electrical substation, among others.
In the same way, Rodríguez Piñero stressed that climate change is “the greatest challenge currently facing the ports”, which is why “the commitment to clean energies” is “crucial”. To this end, he stressed that it is fundamental that the European Commission “get involved in the modernisation and digitalisation of the Mediterranean ports to build a resilient Europe”.
The Conference continued on Wednesday in Ghent and closed today in Oslo, where subjects such as the reduction of emissions in the ports were dealt with, with the participation of Raúl Cascajo, Head of Environmental Policy of the PAV, who explained the projects that Valenciaport has underway within the framework of its 2030 objective, zero emissions, such as the use of hydrogen in terminals and port machinery through the H2Ports project, the construction of an electrical substation which will enable the ships’ engines to be stopped when they are ready to be connected to the network or the supply or plans for the supply of LNG to ships.