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TERCAT
is also now investing in Pamplona in the
Navarre region, which sits near the French
border. This, the commercial director noted,
would also prove a boon for the port of
Barcelona.
The
port authority has also invested in an inland
terminal in Zaragoza, which is being used
for distribution through to the capital
of Madrid.
The
facility is approximately 360 kilometres
from Barcelona and serves as an ideal distribution
point, the commercial director explained.
Barcelona
also has plans to invest in other such terminals
in the future to serve FranceˇXin both Toulouse
and Lyon.
Land
transportation is not the only link that
Barcelona provides, it also is well connected
to a wide array of destinations throughout
the Mediterranean via its feeder networks
to the eastern Mediterranean and North Africa.
Thanks
to its efforts to invest in greater intermodal
connectivity the port of Barcelona offers
competitive connections to not only its
own hinterland, but through to France, Portugal,
southern Europe, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco,
West Africa and the Canary Islands.
"We
are connecting either by truck, train or
feeder ships to ensure we have enough throughput
to fill the ships of our customers, the
shipping lines," Ms Puig said.
The
port of Barcelona has been one of the frontrunners
in negotiating lower fees for the shipping
lines in what has been a difficult few years
for them on the Asia-Europe and Asia-Mediterranean
routes.
"These
have been tough times for our customers.
So we embarked upon a commercial program
to promote a number of alternatives to get
reductions for them. In the case of Spain,
the prices are taxes so they are fixed by
the government.
"But
we had the possibility to make a commercial
program that allowed us to offer the maximum
discount for the lines that were really
keen to come to Barcelona," she said.
Looking
ahead Ms Puig is optimistic about the port's
future.
"We
have very important companies trusting in
the capabilities of the port of Barcelona.
We have Hutchison and TCB [Terminal de Contenidors
de Barcelona] in our two container terminals.
Also in our short-sea shipping business
we have Grimaldi, in the car sector we have
Nissan. These companies are all very comfortable
in our port," she said.
The
port has also embarked upon a program to
increase the overall efficiency of the port.
A
lot of research has gone into this effort
to date, and it has involved extensive discussions
with the port's customers, including the
shipping lines, shippers and receivers,
truckers, the terminal operators, shipping
agenets, freight forwarders and more.
In
total there are 52 companies that have joined
the program and Ms Puig and the port of
Barcelona have high hopes that it will help
add to the allure of the port going forward.
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