About 150 people gathered today at the I Logistics Forum of Cádiz, organized by the Port Authority of the Bay of Cádiz at the Casa de Iberoamérica, with the aim of showcasing the logistical assets of Cádiz to promote its development.
The event – which featured logistics experts, operators, freight forwarders, multinational companies, carriers, shipping companies, customs services, authorities, etc. – was inaugurated by the president of the Port Authority of the Bay of Cádiz, Teófila Martínez, along with the mayor of the city, Bruno García; the counselor of the Presidency, Interior, Social Dialogue, and Administrative Simplification, Antonio Sanz, and the director of Planning and Development of State Ports, Manuel Arana.
All of them, along with the experts who participated in the three panels, agreed that the Bay of Cádiz is, in fact, a first-class logistical platform due to its geostrategic location and the capacity of its infrastructure and services, as well as its road and rail connectivity, positioning it as a reference in Southern Europe.
In the first panel, which also included the president of the port of Cádiz, the Special State Delegate for the Free Zone of Cádiz, Francisco González; the CEO of Sociedad Aletas and representative of the LÓGICA project, Antonio Tornay; the deputy director of Boluda Shipping, Alfonso Serrat; the CEO of Europea Group and honorary consul of Uruguay in Cádiz, Ceuta, and Melilla, Jesús Otero, and the general director of Transfesa transports, Samuel Nevado, the advantages of having a Free Zone and inter-institutional cooperation and collaboration were highlighted.
An example of this collaboration is the LÓGICA project, which involves various public institutions and is expected to become a reality in the short term, given the strong commitment of all administrations to develop it into a logistic, technological, and multimodal benchmark.
Regarding intermodality, the representative of Boluda Shipping mentioned that since May 2020, the company has had a daily maritime service between Cádiz and the Canary Islands, complemented by a rail service from the Jerez terminal, which already accounts for five trains a week, totaling between 180 and 190 containers. They hope to stop hauling from Jerez to Cádiz when the Cabezuela railway connection becomes operational this year.
In this regard, Samuel Nevado emphasized that the commitment to environmental sustainability is an opportunity that will drive the shift from truck to train in the coming years; as well as the economic and social factor, given the generational replacement problem currently facing the road transport sector.
Transfesa’s representative also pointed out that Cádiz’s physical location offers significant technical advantages that will make it possible to maximize the efficiency of rail use.
Jesús Otero, for his part, praised the decisions taken by various port officials in recent years to currently have resolved connectivity, making logistics a reality in Cádiz.
This first panel – moderated by the director of Ónda Cádiz, Miguel Velasco – concluded that the quality of services and infrastructure, and the coordination and agreement between administrations, as well as the commitment to sustainability and innovation, make Cádiz a logistical reality today.
Panel 2, which included Berta Escudero, managing director of Gordon Brothers; Antonio Méndez, CEO of Altair Logistics Consultants; Enrique Medrano, managing director of Travelport, and Luis Rodríguez, director of export and logistics of Harinera Vilafranquina, discussed the needs that companies set for a territory to become a logistical platform.
These four experts, moderated by the chief editor of Canal Sur Cádiz, Victoria de Haro, highlighted that the supply chain is a competitive advantage, so timing and certainty are essential to maintain confidence in a port and a logistics space.
Solutions, immediacy, response capacity, digitalization, social peace, and added value are some of the requirements highlighted by the speakers, in addition to a geostrategic location, and also flexibility in customs management or support from the administrations, to which they have called for greater agility in some procedures.
Finally, the third panel, moderated by the director of Radio Cádiz, Lourdes Acosta, which included Alfonso Serrat; José Ramón Mazo, general director of Grupo Mazo; Nourdine Mouati, business development director of Audakia, and Diego Nieves, director of PTP Group Spain, reiterated the importance of the time factor, as well as Cádiz’s geostrategic position, which places it at an advantage in the international panorama.