Port de Barcelona strengthens relations with India

The Port of Barcelona, one of the main drivers of development in Spain and a reference port in the Euro-Mediterranean region, is organizing a Trade Mission in Mumbai from October 16th to 18th. The delegation, headed by a representation of the Government of Catalonia and made up of companies and institutions from the port and logistics sector, is traveling with the aim of promoting trade between India and Europe and publicizing the wide range of services offered by the Spanish port to Indian importers, exporters and logistics operators. 

Managed by the Barcelona Port Authority, the Port of Barcelona is the leading port in the country in terms of value of the goods that pass through it, channeling 23% of Spain's foreign maritime trade. Its 100 direct services connect it with 200 ports on five continents and it is a port specialized in general cargo and high value-added goods. Currently, four regular shipping services connect the ports of Mumbai and Nhava Sheva with Barcelona. With a traffic of close to 2.3 million tonnes per year and 131.000 TEUs, India is the second commercial partner of Port de Barcelona in Asia. 

New vehicles stand out among the main types of traffic in the Port of Barcelona, which is not only growing in terms of imports, exports and traffic, but is also attracting new traffic segments such as electric vehicles. The joint commitment made years ago by the Port and its two specialized vehicle terminals, Autoterminal and Setram, to offer specific services for this traffic has yielded results and today Barcelona is an international logistics hub concerning the transport of electric vehicles. 

Port de Barcelona: the gateway to Europe and the Mediterranean 

Barcelona is for Indian companies the southern gate to access the European market and the distribution platform for the Mediterranean and North Africa. The Catalan delegation will present the excellent maritime and land connectivity of the Port of Barcelona, that has daily short sea shipping services with different destinations of the Mediterranean and counts with regular rail services with the rest of Spain and Europe. 

The Port of Barcelona, one of the most productive in Europe according to an analysis by the World Bank and S&P Global, offers high-capacity interoceanic lines with America and Asia that allow it to act as an exchange hub with the markets of Central and South America, an aspect that offers very competitive alternatives to Indian logistics operators. 

Tool for the internationalization of the economy 

The Missions of the Port of Barcelona have turned into a valuable tool for the internationalization of the economy of the Spanish hinterland, making easier the fact of landing to new markets to the companies, with the aim of exploring new and interesting business opportunities. 

The Trade Mission of Port de Barcelona aims to leverage the opportunity that the Maritime India Vision (MIV) 2030 offers to Spanish and Indian companies, which in the short and medium term will have the capacity to develop faster and more competitive logistics chains and gain access to European and Indian markets under very advantageous conditions. 

This Trade Mission will ease high-level institutional contacts with the goal of improving collaboration between ports. The main act, the Business Conference “India-Spain/Catalonia: New Business Opportunities”, will take place on Monday, October 16th at the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai. The technical seminars will be held at the headquarters of the Port of Mumbai, co-organizer entity of the event, and will be focused on the current customs procedures in Spain and India; innovation and smart ports; and training based on technological platforms. 

This Mission has the support of the Port of Mumbai, the Mumbai Chamber of Commerce, the Federation of Freight Forwarders' Associations in India (FFFAI), and the main industry associations. These trips, that started being held in 1998, have become an essential tool in the internationalization strategy of Port de Barcelona, as well as a powerful business agent of change to promote and improve the position of the port's clients overseas. 

Sustainability and innovation 

The energy transition, the promotion of cleaner fuels and the electrification of docks are the main axes on which the Port of Barcelona is working, concerning the field of environmental sustainability. The energy transition is directly connected to innovation, which has also become one of the identity signs of the Spanish port. The Innovation Plan of the Port of Barcelona, that has been set in motion in 2022, will accelerate innovative initiatives and technological, environmental and energy transition projects, which should facilitate the transformation of the port. 

On this regard, since the late 90’s, the Port has worked in order to be a port without papers and reach new objectives, being a pioneer Smart Port at present. That is to say, a port that collaborates through the digital technologies: improving the performance of the operations, reducing the costs and the consumption of resources, and that worries about the people that works at the port and is environmentally responsible.