During 2016 the Port participated in over 21 national and international fairs and conferences as a visitor or an exhibitor, to promote, consolidate and position itself with respect to its strategic traffic and study the market trends and the needs of users and operators at first hand.
The Port took part once again in the Fruit Logistica fair in Berlin, which is dedicated to logistics in international fruit and vegetables trade. The Port has been present at 14 of the 23 editions of the fair, and in recent years has participated together with Grimaldi Group and Mercabarna to foster import traffic from Central and South America and short sea traffic while recovering Barcelona's position as a logistics and distribution hub for these types of products.
Another important fair in Europe in 2016 was the SITL Europe held in Paris. This biennial fair, which this year featured more than 500 exhibitors from 80 countries, brings together the main players represented in industry, trade and distribution in France and neighbouring countries.
An essential annual event for the Port of Barcelona is the Barcelona International Logistics Fair (SIL). As in recent years, the Port opted for a proactive presence, organising a programme of lectures, presentations and networking at the same stand. It also took part in the 33rd edition of the ALACAT Congress, the Federation of National Associations of Freight Forwarders and International Logistics Operators in Latin America and the Caribbean, which was held as part of the fair.
The Port was present at the Intermodal fair in São Paulo (Brazil), where it sought to consolidate contacts with ship owners, logistics operators and ports and establish new business ties in a strategic market in which it has been working for some time.
Activities have been stepped up in recent years to bring the Port of Barcelona closer to Asian countries, particularly China. In application of the cooperation agreement signed with the WCA Family and the China International Freightforwarders Association (CIFA), the Port took part in several fairs and events such as the 8th WCA Worldwide Conference in Dubai and the 13th WCA Sino-International Freight Forwarders Conference in Shanghai.
In this market, which is also increasingly prominent, the Port took part, as every year, in the 4th Hispano-Moroccan Transport and Logistics Sector Meeting which brings together in Tangier (Morocco) the key players operating between both countries, especially with the port of Tanger Med. In Casablanca, the Port attended the Med Port for the first time. This is the annual fair for container ports and terminal operations in the Mediterranean, which this year held its third edition.
Once again this year the Port of Barcelona was present at the Seatrade Global Cruise 2016 in Miami, which is the most important worldwide meeting for the cruise sector, and at Seatrade Med 2016, the main cruise fair in the Mediterranean, which this year was held in Tenerife.
In the automotive area, a strategically important sector both for the Port and for the entire Catalan economy, we took part in various conferences and congresses, such as ECG Conference 2016 in Hamburg, and several working groups of sectorial associations such as the Catalonia Automotive Industry Cluster (CIAC) and the European Car Transport Group (ECG).
As regards short sea shipping (SSS), we should point to the organisation of and participation in the annual European Short Sea Shipping Conference (SSPC), which this year was held in Barcelona and was a chance to update and share developments and trends of this type of transport and to make contact with other ports and sectorial players.
2016 marked the eighteenth trade mission led by the Port of Barcelona, to Panama City (Panama) and Havana (Cuba). This commercial activity is set out in detail in the following section.