The Port of Barcelona is the gate to a hinterland that goes beyond the old borders between states and through which flow in and out the raw materials that feed its industries and the high added value goods produced in its area of influence.

The port of Barcelona concentrates the largest logistics supply of the Iberian Peninsula and the South of Europe. The interconnection of all the modes of transport (port, airport, motorways, and railways) in a radius of 5 kilometres, and its location in an environment offering the best services to the transport and logistics sector places the port as one of the main commercial arteries for transport and distribution in the Mediterranean.

The desire to bring the port and port services closer to the operators and end customers has led the Port of Barcelona to be one of the founding members of the Zaragoza and Toulouse Goods Terminals. The Zaragoza Goods Terminal (tmZ), which opened in 2001, was designed as a platform for the imports and exports of Aragon, Navarre and La Rioja and is an infrastructure that helps to set our offer of services apart from our competitors in an increasingly competitive market.

The strategic location of Zaragoza, along the Barcelona-Madrid-Lisbon rail corridor, and nerve centre of the communications network of the north of the Iberian Peninsula, make this rail terminal the origin and destination for traffics and an intermediate terminal for traffics with the rest of Spain and Portugal.

The Port of Barcelona has set up a similar initiative, the Toulouse Goods Terminal (tmT), in the south of France. The tmT brings the port closer to its potential customers of the French Midi. The aim of the tmT is to extend the port's area of influence and bring ports services closer to the freight agents located north of the Pyrenees and, in sum, to attract new traffics starting from or ending up in the French departments of Midi Pyrenees, Languedoc-Roussillon and Aquitaine.

A similar initiative to the tmZ and tmT is the Madrid–Coslada dry dock, linked by regular railway services, and provides an efficient and competitive service to the centre of the Iberian Peninsula.

The Port of Barcelona is specialised in general cargo, high added value goods, such as vehicles, electronic products or consumer goods. This places it at the top of the list of Spanish ports in terms of turnover and by value of its goods.

The growth in traffic that has occurred over the last few years has gone hand in hand with major modernisation works, both in terms of its facilities and its organisational structures, and a search for strategies to boost the competitiveness of the companies and thus of the entire port.

A far-reaching process of concentration and specialisation of the terminals has been undertaken. The terminals are privately managed and are operated under a concessionary regime by companies competing with each other. The Port of Barcelona currently has 30 goods terminals, three of which are multi-purpose and the rest exclusively dedicated to coffee and cocoa, fruit, perishable goods, forestry products, vehicles, metals, solid and liquid bulks, hydrocarbons and passengers.

Today, there are two international container terminals in operation in the Port of Barcelona. Both are making significant investments in superstructure to expand their operational capacity within their current area.

Both terminals, dedicated to vehicles, are pioneers in the sector, having obtained the ISO 9002 quality certification and offer value added operations. They have three multistorey storage parks, with a capacity to hold 20,000 vehicles under cover and 21,500 in the open.

With more than one million passengers during the 2004 season, the Port of Barcelona has consolidated its position as the top cruise port in Europe. More than 50% of these ships use Barcelona as their turnaround port, because of the attraction the city holds for tourists all around the World, but also because of the quality and reliability of the services that the port offers to this demanding industry.

The Port of Barcelona is totally refurbishing the Adossat Wharf, and this, along with the building and adaptation of many cruise terminals, will turn this former wharf into a first class passenger terminal, in technological and operational terms, that will be able to receive the best and most luxurious ships in the world.

All these actions help to prepare the port for the changes that the cruising sector will experience in the next few years with the entry into service of larger ships, 350 metres long with a capacity for 4,000 passengers. The Adossat Wharf could have up to 5 terminals on the same 1,680 metre berthing line, with a capacity for 5 large cruise at a time, in addition to the two large existing terminals at the Barcelona World Trade Centre.

Short sea shipping is considered as one of the most sustainable and economically competitive modes of transport compared to road transport. In spite of this, and of the efforts the European Commission is making to promote it, this mode of transport is not considered especially attractive to freight handlers, partly as they are almost totally unaware of it. The Port of Barcelona and companies are making considerable investments to build the infrastructures required by this means of transport in order to help companies to improve their competitiveness

The aim is to build up SSS as a tool for increasing the competitive edge of the companies that import or export their goods through the Port of Barcelona.

The demand for this type of transport has led the Port to set up an increasing number of short-distance maritime lines, which link it to other Mediterranean ports often enough to make it competitive. The competitiveness of Short Sea Shipping and the investment made by port facilities and shipping lines to make this a real alternative to road transport can be clearly seen by the spectacular growth figures.

In this connection, thanks to its strategic location and its ever-larger and increasingly important hinterland, the Port of Barcelona is developing a series of strategies to increase the number of SSS lines and offer a more flexible and competitive maritime transport service to its companies and clients. The Port currently has berthing, loading and unloading areas dedicated to this particular mode of transport and has become a touchstone for this type of short distance traffic.

New Short Sea Shipping lines have recently begun to serve the Port. Following the success of the pioneer, Grande Navi Veloci, operating between Barcelona and Genoa, with exponential growth year on year, Barcelona has been increasing the number of connections with other Mediterranean and North African ports.

The latest example is the line that opened in March 2004 operated by Grimaldi Napoli to Civitavecchia (Rome). The line, served by a mixed ferry for passengers and Ro-Ro cargo, covers the trip between Barcelona and Italy and began with three trips a week, which increased to a daily service in May 2005, consolidating itself as a Maritime Highway able to compete with road routes. The speed at which these latest generation Short Sea Shipping vessels can travel gives them a competitive advantage not only over road transport, but also over air carriers.

The Port promotes the use of railways to carry goods over short, medium and long distances. The Port of Barcelona has three railway terminals for containers, four for vehicles, one for metal products, and two for solid and liquid bulks. There are regular services with the main Spanish and European destinations. Special mention should be made of the rail links joining the Port of Barcelona with the main Benelux terminals on a daily basis.

The connection between the Port and the European rail gauge through the high-speed network will allow the unloaded goods to reach their European destinies in a significantly shorter time. This improvement will allow the Port of Barcelona to compete with North European ports (Amsterdam, Bremen, Rotterdam) especially in terms of traffic with the Far East, North Africa and Latin America.

The Port of Barcelona has been a pioneer in the development of logistics activities linked to port activity. The ZAL (Logistics Activities Area) of the Port of Barcelona is a unique multimodal centre in Europe which, connected to all the transport modes in a radius of less than 5 kilometres, offers its customers the possibility of a la carte services: buying or renting space, buying or renting purpose-built warehouses, and covering all their additional needs through a modern Service Centre. The ZAL also boasts a strategic location, its own customs regime, integrated telecommunications service, economies of scale and synergies.

The offer of services of the ZAL has proved successful ever since it was set up in 1993 and the 60 Ha of its phase one are now fully occupied. The Port of Barcelona has begun the urban development of phase two, which will provide almost 200 Ha by 2005. The Service Area, opened in early 2002, includes a Service Center, 18,673 m2 of office space, meeting and conference rooms, shopping and services arcade.

The more than 50 companies already set up in the ZAL include some of the main national and international freight forwarders and logistics operators. The ZAL makes it possible to attend to the needs of the companies wishing to integrate distribution and transport activities with post-industrial and/or pre-commercial handling activities and other activities that provide added value to goods. The ZAL is one of the fundamental tools of the Port that can enable it to become the main goods distribution platform in Southern Europe.

Access to the Mediterranean through the Suez Channel makes Barcelona a key port for traffics starting or ending in Asia. Over the last few years this relationship has strengthened as a result of trade missions (China in 2000 and India 2004) and cooperation agreements with some of the main ports in the area.

Barcelona is the leading Mediterranean port in terms of the number of regular lines it boasts with the main ports of the Asian region. It has cooperation agreements with the ports of Ningbo, Shanghai and Qingdao in China. These agreements allow for training courses and exchanges of know-how for Chinese port operators. The Port also works alongside the Spanish and Catalan organisations that have permanent representations in these countries. The Port has a permanent representation in China and Japan. If you wish to contact our representatives, please mail the SAC at sac@apb.es.

The Port works with Casa Asia to carry out actions and projects that helps the societies of Asia, Pacific, Catalonia and Spain to get to know each other better, as well as promoting relations between these countries in the financial and institutional spheres.

In the academic field, the Port set up the Port of Barcelona Logistics Chair at the University of Shanghai CEIBS (China European International Business School). The aim of this professorship is to share Barcelona's experience in the logistic sector, adapting it to the Chinese market, adapting it to its own peculiarities. The consulting group of the professorship is made up of logistics operators and end customers who know the day-to-day reality of the sector.

The Port of Barcelona has also been a pioneer and stands out as a model for port communities throughout the world in terms of quality. In search of the greatest possible speed and transparency in the rendering of services, the APB set up its Quality Plan in 1994, which has been implemented gradually in the different terminals and companies that work in the Port. The ISO 9001 quality certification has been obtained by the main port companies.

The Quality Plan of the Port Community of Barcelona offers a Programme of Guarantees that provide written assurances that certain criteria will be met: total safety of the goods, speed of customs clearance and the guarantee of Coordinated Physical Inspection. What sets the Port of Barcelona apart from other ports is that if any of these elements are not respected, compensation is paid to the owner of the goods.

In 2000, the Port of Barcelona itself was awarded the ISO 9001 certification, and the first port in the world to obtain this quality certification in its processes. This certification, which was renewed in 2003 and covers the design, development and management of the quality systems of the Logistics Community of Barcelona, is the result of the work done to date by the Port in implanting quality checks in all port areas and bears witness to the high level achieved by the different port companies.

Through the Steering Council of the Strategic Plan and the Quality Plan of the Port Community of Barcelona, the Port has lent its support to joint plans with the ports of the Balearic Islands and Las Palmas and Santa Cruz de Tenerife in order to guarantee goods traffic from door to door. The port of Barcelona has also signed assistance agreements for the development of quality management models with the National Association of Ports of Uruguay, the Regional Company of Cartagena de Indias in Colombia, and the port of Paraguaná in Brazil.

For the last few years, the Port of Barcelona has been working to achieve the maximum speed and flexibility in the processing of port documents. The use of EDI in virtually all the documents presented at the port, and customs formalities, which can already be processed remotely using the import SAD - in most cases filled out on the day they are submitted - has become an important factor of competitiveness for the Port.

The Port of Barcelona's Telematics Forum is a working group that analyses documentary circuits, where they are and how they work, and proposes improvements. Based on the application of new technologies and the reengineering of circuits, these improvements attempt to simplify existing procedures and thereby bring about a greater speed and flexibility in the processing of documents within the Port.

Aware of the genuine revolution that the use of new communication technologies is bringing with it in all fields of commerce throughout the world, the Port of Barcelona has set up PortIC, Barcelona Port Community's telematics platform. PortIC, an initiative of the APB, is the result of years of work which has led to a consensus of the entire Port Community of Barcelona and the defining of a common technological and management model, appropriate and accepted by all its members. PortIC brings together representatives of the associations of shipping agents, freight forwarders, stevedoring companies and customs agents, as well as the Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Navigation of Barcelona and the APB itself. The platform also envisages the future incorporation of the entire chain involving transport, importers and exporters and international electronic commerce services.

PortIC represents a substantial improvement in the competitiveness of the Port of Barcelona. The elimination of paper in the processing of documents means much more than saving space or time. It means saving on courier services, clarity in the documentary circuit, the possibility to operate from further afield, using telework and, in sum, repositioning the offer of maritime transport with respect to other systems of transport and the port as an international transport pole.

The implantation of this technological platform places the Port of Barcelona at the forefront of the international revolution represented by e-commerce. PortIC will allow companies working with the logistics infrastructures of Barcelona to operate with companies throughout the world without needing paper support and with the same legal guarantees with which they currently operate. As with the Quality Plan, the PortIC electronic platform model has been exported to foreign ports such as Buenos Aires (Argentina) and Alexandria (Egypt.)

External promotion is one of the main aims set out in the Port of Barcelona's Strategic Plan. The initiatives aimed at boosting the port's presence on the international markets have led to regular bilateral contacts with companies, institutions and trade and transport leaders throughout the world, and well-attended business and trade missions led by the port itself.

Argentina, Tunisia, China, Morocco, Mexico and Turkey have been the destinations of the missions held to date. The missions are a special point of contact between business representatives and institutions and are an opportunity to strike new business deals. They are designed as a showcase for importers and exporters to publicise the wide range of services offered by the port as well as a forum at which to exchange experiences and knowledge on foreign trade, international transport and business opportunities.

In the logistics field, the Port of Barcelona is backing the promotion of the Latin American Logistics Institute (ILI.) The purpose of the ILI is to foster the exchange and development of research, training and consulting in the fields of transport, logistics and international trade between the Iberian Peninsula and Central and South America.

The ILI organises courses and seminars in different Latin American countries as well as meetings between the people in charge of logistics and foreign trade on both sides of the Atlantic. The institute also has its headquarters in Barcelona, with delegations in Argentina, Chile, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Mexico, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic, and is soon to open its offices in Colombia and Portugal.

The Port's presence in the main world markets can also be seen in the institution's participation in the main international organisations. The Port of Barcelona holds the chairmanship of Medcruise, the Mediterranean association of cruiser ports; the vice chairmanship for Europe and Africa of the IFPCD; the chairmanship of the Trade Facilitation Committee of the IAPH; the vice chairmanship of the UN/CEFACT. It is also present in the Latin American Association of Ports and Harbours; the European Sea Ports Organisation (ESPO); the International Cargo Handling Co-ordination Association; the Conference Board; the European Shippers Council; Council of Logistics Management and the Catalan Institute of Latin American Co-operation, as well as currently holding the vice-chairmanship of the lobby called Barcelona Logistics Centre (BCL).

Together with the ports of Marseilles and Genoa, the Port of Barcelona is a founding member of Intermed, an economic interest group created with the aim of defending the interests of the ports of the North-Western Mediterranean in the European Union (EU) and boosting its presence in third countries. Its actions are aimed at disseminating the criteria of professionalism and quality applied in these ports, as well as working to solve their infrastructure needs: rail connections, improving communications across natural barriers - the Alps and the Pyrenees - and obtaining finance from the EU that does not discriminate against the ports of the south.

It aims to correct current industrial, economic and commercial imbalances in Europe through joint promotion campaigns, promoting Short Sea Shipping, technical assistance to the Northern African ports, promotion of [???????], etc. that will show the potential of growth of Mediterranean ports.

Carrying out the functions currently demanded by international trade and attracting new traffic requires the creation of new port areas. The Port of Barcelona Logistics Community has set itself the goal of facing up to the physical transformation of the port and its surroundings - with the enlargement of the port and its logistics activities area - and accessibility to markets, especially in terms of rail connections. These improvements are vital, as logistics activity is subject to harsh competition in prices and services, and requires both an efficient communications network and space to be able to function.

The first action of the Infrastructures and Environment Plan of the Llobregat Delta, called the Delta Plan, was the diversion of the mouth of this river two kilometres further south, which was opened in September 2004. The land thus reclaimed from the sea will make it possible to resize the Port, which will double its current area, to cover a total of 1,300 Ha. However, the Delta Plan does not only include the port, it also covers the enlargement of Barcelona Airport, the Llobregat Highway, the improvement of the road network, connection to the European gauge rail network and the building in the port enclosure of a large station dedicated exclusively to goods. It also includes the Llobregat water treatment plant, one of the largest waste water treatment facilities in Europe.

The enlargement began with the building of the seawalls: the South seawall, 4,800 metres long, with a maximum draught of 22 metres, which will cost 162.4 million €; the extension of the current East seawall by 2,170 metres, a draught of between 20 and 25 metres, and a cost of 165.1 million €. The sea defence works re completed with coastal corrective measures, involving the creation of a new beach on the south shore of the river, once it has been diverted, and involves an investment of 19.8 million €.

Apart from the enlargement of the commercial port, the Master Plan also covers the enlargement of the logistics port, the Logistics Activities Area of the Port of Barcelona. The diverting of the river Llobregat will free up additional space that will allow the ZAL to grow by 192.7 hectares, taking the port logistics area to 260 hectares.

Within the enlargement works we should also bear in mind the actions required for guaranteeing full multimodality. For the Port of Barcelona to attain the objective of becoming the first Euro Mediterranean logistics hub, it is vital to be able to dispatch goods smoothly and speedily by land to attend to the forecast increase in traffic over the coming years. It is therefore necessary to guarantee rail multimodality with the implantation of the international gauge and its connection to the European network. The new railway projects forecast by the Delta Plan also guarantee the connection with the road network.

The Delta Plan situates Barcelona as one of the nerve centres of the European communications network. The Port of Barcelona will be the main multimodal centre of southern Europe when the enlargement of the airport and the connection with the European rail gauge become operative. This is why the Port of Barcelona is one of the ports with the greatest growth perspectives for the coming years, both in quantitative and qualitative terms, because the Port of Barcelona brings together all the factors allowing it to be the southern gate of Europe and the main Euro Mediterranean logistics Hub.