Professor Vicente Pallardó, director of the Valenciaport Chair of Port Economics, took part in the conference organised by the Chair to analyse port strategy in the global context.
The ‘Trading with friends’ indicator, which offers an evaluation of the degree of dependence of the Spanish economy on non-democratic regimes, was also presented.
According to this study, between 2009 and 2019, the Port of Valencia has increased its traffic with democratic countries by 14%.
The president of the Port Authority of Valencia (PAV), Aurelio Martínez, has highlighted “the fall in freight rates due to the drop in demand in international trade and the increase in the capacity of the fleet”
The director of the Valenciaport Chair of Port Economics at the University of Valencia, Vicente Pallardó, has been categorical in pointing out that “the absence of a port of such a magnitude as Valencia, the first in the Mediterranean in container traffic, would have a substantial cost for the Valencian productive model, which is an eminently exporting region on which economic growth and quality employment are based. For them, Valenciaport is the backbone of this model and its absence would have a terribly negative impact”.
“Even the inability of the port to follow the dynamics of the times and adapt to the demands of a very dynamic world economy which demands to be able to compete by innovating and investing in sustainable infrastructures would be negative”, continued Pallardó. A strategy that Valenciaport is developing in order to continue to be a hub and a reference point in the Mediterranean.
The professor of the University of Valencia and director of the Chair insisted that “it is unimaginable the value and the damage that the absence of the port could cause for our economy and for society as a whole. The cost of not having a port would be extremely serious for our exporting and importing capacity, and therefore for our economy and prosperity”.
Pallardó, an analyst of the economic situation of the Institute of International Economics (IEI), made these statements during the conference organised by the Chair of Port Economics ‘Port strategy and performance in the new global scenario’. At this event, international experts from the maritime sector analysed the keys to improving port operations and optimising their processes in today’s globalised economy.
During the conference, the ‘Trading with friends’ Indicator was also presented, which the Chair is going to develop to offer an evaluation of the degree of dependence of the Spanish economy (in absolute terms and in relation to other countries), in exports and imports, with respect to non-democratic regimes. With this,” Pallardó indicated, “the aim is to point out the relevance of a potential interruption, partial or total, of international trade relations according to the type of political regime prevailing in each country, taking into account the current complicated geopolitical scenario and the open debate on decoupling”.
In this first introduction to the Index, it is stated that 75% of Spanish exports and 60% of Spanish imports are carried out with countries with full democracies, so the degree of dependence on non-democratic countries is not significant, although “in recent years it has increased, especially in imports”. In the case of Valenciaport, Professor Pallardó pointed out that “in the last decade, between 2009 and 2019, the Port of Valencia has increased its traffic with democratic countries by 14%”. During his speech, he explained that this indicator will also show “the benefits of maritime traffic for companies but also for citizens”.
For his part, the President of the Port Authority of Valencia (PAV), Aurelio Martínez, took a look at the world economic situation, marked by “a period of strong deceleration of the GDP and world trade, which has led to a trend towards a fall in the elasticity of trade. Inflation is set to remain high this year and for much of next, including core inflation. Both will remain elevated and resilient to the downside.
Regarding the situation in the maritime sector, the head of Valenciaport pointed out that “freight rates will continue to fall in the coming months due to the drop in demand for international trade, the growth in fleet capacity with more containers on the market. However, freight rates will not return to 2019 levels because costs have grown in recent years”. Martínez also stressed that this fall in the price of freight transport is occurring “at a time of oligopoly where the 10 main shipping lines control 85% of the market”.
As a result of this situation,” Martínez continued, “50% of port congestion has been resolved. The problem is that the average stay of containers in the ports has gone from seven to twelve days”.
A complex environment
The Valenciaport Chair of Port Economics held today the workshop ‘Port strategy and performance in the new global scenario’. The first part of the workshop was attended, in addition to Aurelio Martinez and Vicente Pallardó, by the Vice-Rector for Innovation and Transfer of the University of Valencia, Rosa María Donat.
In the second part of the conference, the international speakers, experts in the maritime-port sector, presented their vision on: “the current maritime-port environment and the importance of sectoral indicators to understand the relevance of ports for economic development”. Michael Dooms, Vrije Universiteit Brussel-Solvay Business School; Theo Notteboom, University Antwerp-Maritime Academy; Thanos Pallis, University of Piraeus; Luis Antonia Rodríguez, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD); and Vicente Pallardó took part in this round table, which was moderated by Juan Manuel Díez, head of Strategic Planning of the PAV.
This conference forms part of the action programme of the Valenciaport Chair of Port Economics, the result of collaboration between the Port Authority of Valencia and the University of Valencia. This union was forged with the aim of developing research activities related to the analysis and periodic monitoring of the international economic situation, trade and its maritime-port implications, as well as promoting dissemination and encouraging collaboration and the exchange of knowledge between universities and professionals by facilitating meeting spaces.