Aurelio Martínez: “thanks to its high connectivity, Valenciaport is the best option in the Mediterranean for each refrigerated product delivery line.”

The MSC shipping company has announced the creation of a new railway line dedicated to reefer traffic (refrigerated containers) that will link Valencia with Zaragoza.

Valencia, September the 18th 2019. – The president of the Port Authority of Valencia (PAV), Aurelio Martínez, has defended Valenciaport as the “best option in the Mediterranean for the transport of perishable products. All indicators – Aurelio Martínez said – show that Valenciaport has excellent connectivity with the five continents; therefore, it is the best option in the Mediterranean for each refrigerated product delivery line ”.

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This was expressed during the opening this morning of the XI Cool Logistics Global, the main European fair for the logistics of refrigerated products held this week in Valencia. The event was attended by Alex von Stempel, managing director of Cool Logistics Resources; and Rachael White, co-director of Cool Logistics Resources.

During the meeting, Aurelio Martínez stressed that “we are very proud to be the headquarter of this fair that makes Valenciaport the European capital of perishable goods logistics. We are the first port in the Mediterranean and the fourth in Europe in container traffic and, in addition, we stand as the best platform for the transport of perishable products thanks, fundamentally to three factors. On the one hand, our great connectivity with the five continents; our broad hinterland, which in a radius of 350 km covers more than 50% of the Spanish Gross Domestic Product – a fact that guarantees us a great penetration in the consumer markets of the country – and our leadership in Spanish import-export traffic, given that Valenciaport enters and leaves 40% of what Spain imports and exports ”.

In an auditorium of reefer professionals in about twenty countries, the president of the PAV has also explained that the logistics of refrigerated products affects many sectors (fruits and vegetables, medicines, fish, meat, flowers, cosmetics, etc.) and in the case of Spain, it has more than 100 companies with 15,000 employees, 200 million turnover and 6 million cubic meters of storage capacity, which accounts for its strategic importance. Aurelio has also stressed that one of the main challenges of this logistics sector is the continuous search for the reduction of transport times, a basic aspect to guarantee the quality of perishable products. “For this, it is essential – he stressed – the connectivity of the ports, the decrease in logistics processes and the increase in the efficiency of intermodal processes. And in all these aspects, Valenciaport plays a leading role that makes the ports of Valencia, Sagunto and Gandia the main options chosen by the market for the transport of this type of goods ”.

After the inauguration of the event, Ignacio Ballester, general director of MSC Spain, in his presentation entitled The role of Valencia in changing the international container transport landscape, announced that his company plans to launch a new rail service dedicated exclusively to reefer transport between Valencia and Zaragoza. This novelty, which in principle will have an initial frequency of two services per week, may be increased depending on market demand.

For their part, Alex von Stempel and Rachel White, co-directors of Cool Logistics have agreed that the available infrastructure has a fundamental influence on the correct logistics of refrigerated products such as specific warehouses, reefer connections or services for phytosanitary inspections and have set as an example to the port of Valencia. Likewise, they have valued the need to introduce new technologies in this type of transport to guarantee maximum speed and transparency in the process and have set as an example the Valenciaportpcs platform that allows all agents of the logistics chain to be connected in real time and that, at the moment, it is improving its APP to know the situation of the containers that are sent for inspection.

Reefer transport in Valenciaport 

Valenciaport is currently the fourth port of Europe in container traffic after having exceeded Bremen at the end of the first quarter of the year. The port has more than 3,000 reefer connections, in addition to cold stores.