EVOLUTION OF FREIGHT TRAFFIC IN SPAIN

The evolution of freight traffic from 1992 until the present, and how the decline in traffic, overcapacity, and high costs are damaging the sector.

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THE PORT SECTOR’S STRUCTURAL PROBLEMS

The decline in traffic, the overcapacity of Spanish ports, and the high costs of labour and fees are the main problems of the Spanish port sector.

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CHALLENGES AND
DIFFICULTIES OF THE SECTOR

Main challenges and difficulties to assure profitability for port investors and the future of the sector. Ten proposals from PIPE to reactivate the Spanish ports.

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WHAT IS THE
PLATAFORMA IPE?

PIPE is the Platform of Investors in Spanish Ports, created in 2013 with the aim of becoming the opinion forum within the Spanish port sector, proposing changes and improvements to boost competitiveness, development, and sustainability in this important sector within the Spanish economy.

The platform is composed of the most important business groups that have invested in the Spanish port system, and whose premises are found in major Spanish ports. The members of PIPE are found in all the Port Authorities, and are the following:

All of these companies have port concessions for stevedoring operations in more than 33 Spanish ports.

PIPE’s presence in the ports of Spain

Source:
Websites of PIPE’s members

WHO’S WHO IN A SPANISH PORT

The port is a complex structure of stakeholders and companies that provide services upon which the competitiveness and services provided at a port depend.

The ship operator or shipbuilder operates a vessel at its own risk, regardless of whether it owns the ship or not. The ship operator has several partners who are: the captain, the crew (mate, boatswain, engineer, and purser), maritime pilot, tug, berthing master, and stevedore.

The captain has command of the crew and navigation of vessel to its destination, in accordance with the instructions received from the ship operator.

The maritime pilot guides the captain of a vessel in berthing and undocking manoeuvres while the vessel remains in port.

The tug, following the maritime pilot’s instructions, steers the boat to provide traction to the vessel to move it, manoeuvre it, or rescue it.

The berthing master is the operator in charge of berthing, which consists in attaching the vessel’s towlines or ropes to the bollards of the docks.

The loading and unloading operators are in charge of loading and unloading freight as well as its transshipment, custody, and storage.

The shipping agency or shipping agent is the representative of the ship operators, which attends to the needs of the vessels docking in ports. On the commercial side of things, it is in charge of contacting with the forwarders and other shippers which directly hire maritime transport to tender the shipping operator’s freight for cargo transfer, whereas on the operational side of things, it supplies, equips, and clears the vessel, arranging for bunkering, cleaning, waste disposal, stevedoring, piloting, tugging, and all necessary documentation.
In addition, there are other stakeholders such as transport agents or brokers, customs brokers, underwriters, cargo inspectors, claims adjuster. The PIPE platform is included among the loading and unloading operators, whose main business involves freight handling in the port. It is important to point out the difference between those companies whose main line of business is stevedoring and are owned by investors—which is the case for the members of this platform—and companies whose port operations constitute a cost center, whereby profitability is not required, and which have guaranteed traffic, such as oil companies.