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BARCELONA,
an important cultural centre and a major
tourist destination, has fast evolved into
a key logistics player in the Mediterranean
and southern Europe, says the Hong Kong
Trade Development Centre (HKTDC).
Hong
Kong's Hutchison Whampoa through its subsidiary,
Hutchison Port Holdings (HPH), have long
deployed extensive port investment across
the region. So has Hong Kong's Kerry Logistics
Network strengthened its operations there?
This
is due, says an article on the HKTDC website,
to its strategic geographic location, from
which logistics players have long achieved
benefit from the city's success in vying
for the region's logistics crown.
"While
it is true that the northern European ports,
such as Rotterdam, Antwerp, Hamburg, Amsterdam
and Bremerhaven account for the lion's share
of Europe-Asia cargo flow, handling more
than 75 per cent of the traffic or more
than 19 million TEU annually, southern Mediterranean
ports, such as Barcelona, are steadily coming
to play a more significant role in international
maritime logistics," said the article.
This
is largely due to their access to the Mediterranean
through the Suez Channel and their improving
intermodal transport infrastructure.
It
is estimated that one-quarter of the cargo
flows between Europe and Asia pass through
the Suez Canal and various southern European
ports, notably Marseille (France), Genoa
(Italy), Valencia (Spain), Algeciras (Spain),
Barcelona (Spain) and Sines (Portugal).
This
trend is set to boost the growth of long
haul shipping routes from Asia to the east
coast of the US via the Suez Canal, as well
as the popularity of short sea shipping
among the Mediterranean ports.
That
said, since 2008, the Port of Barcelona
has seen a gradual rebalancing in the ratio
of its imports and exports, with a continued
increase in the importance of outgoing cargo
movement. This trend is basically in line
with the country's shrinking imports during
the European crisis and the ensuing export-led
economic restructuring.
The
reduction in the share of incoming cargo
in the Port's overall goods traffic, from
61 per cent in 2008 to 51 per cent in 2013,
serves as a clear indicator of how the port
and the country are transforming from an
importer into an exporter.
The
Port of Barcelona, through its connections
with some 850 ports and 450 regular consolidated
sea lines worldwide, handles more than one-fifth
of Spain's maritime trade.
Cargo
throughput in the Port of Barcelona was
more than 41 million tonnes and 1.7 million
TEU. The port is also one of Spain's most
important assets in terms of national and
regional tourism development, receiving
2.6 million pleasure cruise passengers a
year.
As
a real alternative to the northern European
ports, according to Intermed's estimates,
Mediterranean ports can help reduce the
increase in CO2 emissions from Europe-Asia
traffic over the next decade by cutting
the travelling distance.
For
instance, by channelling via the Port of
Barcelona, a container shipped from Asia
destined for Lyon in France can cut off
up to 1,900-miles travelling distance compared
to transiting via the Port of Antwerp in
Belgium.
This
is among the reasons Hong Kong logistics
players are giving Barcelona new resonance
in the Asia-Europe trade.
Hong
Kong-based Hutchison Whampoa (through its
subsidiary, Hutchison Port Holdings or HPH),
have long appreciated the significance of
the Mediterranean ports in terms of global
logistics and have, therefore, deployed
extensive port investment across the region.
At
the same time, a number of Asian logistics
service providers, such as Hong Kong's Kerry
Logistics Network (a major logistics player
in Spain since 2005), have strengthened
their business presences in various strategic
port cities.
With
the opening of the group's first semi-automated
deepwater container terminal- Barcelona
Europe South Terminal (BEST) in September
2012, for example, HPH (under its Spanish
subsidiary, Terminal Catalunya [TERCAT])
is looking to profit from the traffic rebalancing
between northern and southern European ports.
This
move is complementary to the Trans-European
Transport Network (TEN-T) initiative adopted
in November 2013 by the European Commission
in order to strengthen the pan-European
transport infrastructure and reduce logistics
and environmental costs in Europe.
To
accommodate the trend toward bigger container
vessels, many of the Mediterranean ports,
including the Port of Barcelona, have carried
out related expansion work. When BEST's
expansion is completed, it will be the only
port in the region capable of handling the
four biggest vessels simultaneously with
27 automated blocks, 11 gantry cranes and
a 1,500 metre-long dock with a depth of
at least 16 metres along the whole berth
line.
BEST,
with its eight-track railway facility, also
has the biggest on-dock rail terminal in
the Mediterranean. High-speed rail connections
with Toulouse, Lyon and Paris have been
running since December 2013.
Following
in the footsteps of BEST and the Kerry Logistics
Network, Hong Kong logistics players can
consider adding Barcelona to their service
packages, while expanding their operations
in the Mediterranean and southern Europe.
They can then look to capitalise on city's
port and rail facilities in order to benefit
from the growing Europe-Asia trade flows.
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