• The conference, held this morning in the APV assembly hall, was the finishing touch to the activities organised by Fundación Valenciaport on the occasion of its 20th anniversary.
• During the session, the main challenges of the sector were addressed, such as the standardisation of operations, the optimisation of processes in multimodal logistics chains, and interoperability in rail-port transport, among others.

Valencia, 1 December 2023. – This morning, the conference “Challenges in the maritime-port sector: digital transformation, standardisation and optimisation” took place in the auditorium of the Port Authority of Valencia (APV), an event organised by Fundación Valenciaport as the finishing touch to the week of celebrations to mark its 20th anniversary.

The conference, which brought together nearly 200 attendees interested in learning more about the digital transformation of the sector, was opened by Francesc Sánchez, director general of the APV; Antonio Torregrosa, director general of Fundación Valenciaport; and Laura Carniel, Project Adviser of the European Executive Agency for Climate, Infrastructure and Environment (CINEA).

Francesc Sánchez highlighted the importance of digital transformation as a lever of competitiveness in the port sector and the commitment that ports must assume to be an active part of the processes of change that are taking place in the industry.

Antonio Torregrosa also highlighted the complexity of the maritime-port sector, “a sector in which many agents intervene, exchanging a large volume of information with diverse particularities, so that the search for common solutions is a challenge, which is not always possible to tackle alone, with institutional support being essential”.

Meanwhile, Laura Carniel expressed CINEA’s commitment to supporting initiatives that contribute to efficiency and sustainability in freight transport. She also highlighted the importance of the actions being carried out in the Port of Valencia, as a priority node in the Mediterranean Corridor, which contribute to the development of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T).

In the first block, “Challenges and Trends in the processes of the maritime port sector“, moderated by Salvador Furió, deputy director of Fundación Valenciaportand director of Innovation and Development of the Cluster, other recognised professionals from this entity participated, such as Miguel Llop, director of Digital Transformation; Rafael Company, director of Safety and Security, and José Andrés Giménez, director of Port Logistics.

Some of the issues discussed during the debate were the main technological and operational challenges in the improvement of port logistics processes and operations based on collaborative strategies, as well as from the perspective of port security, focusing on the most innovative technologies, which not only reinforce protection against cyber-physical threats, but also boost efficiency and adaptability, ensuring that ports can operate safely and effectively. The session ended with a focus on the importance of standardisation, governance, collaboration and cooperation, and the need for a more efficient and adaptable port security system.

The second block, entitled “Standardisation in Maritime-Port Operations“, was moderated by José Andrés Giménez, Director of Port Logistics at Fundación Valenciaport, with the participation of Norbert Klettner (TIC4.0), Guido de Beer (DCSA), Gabriel Ferrús (SEAPort Solutions) and Fernando Martí-Belda (NextPort.AI).

During the session, the initiatives and projects that are currently being developed at international level to improve the efficiency and operational synchronisation of processes associated with the maritime scale were presented and discussed. It has been highlighted how the standardisation of operations is the way forward for a rapid adoption of technologies (IoT, Big Data, Artificial Intelligence) and digital solutions available (platforms for the exchange and visualisation of data in real time). In the second part of the conference, we will look at how operational standardisation gives greater relevance to collaboration between agents; a key aspect for advancing towards more efficient and synchronised logistics chains, where the sharing of dynamic, reliable and real-time information will represent an organisational and technological leap for the sector.

In the third block, “Efficiency in the maritime-port sector through digital technologies”, moderated by the director of Digital Transformation of Fundación Valenciaport, Miguel Llop, the main advances in 5G, Internet of Things, Digital Twins, Drones and Artificial Intelligence have been addressed, with the participation of Javier Gallego, from the APV; Narcis Cardona, from ITEAM; and José María Cecilia, from Sensing Tools.

During this round table discussion, the potential application of these technologies in the port sector, the challenges and benefits of their use were analysed. In addition, Javier Gallego presented the projects currently underway at the Port Authority of Valencia for the introduction of these new technologies.

The last block, on digitalisation and harmonisation in multimodal freight transport, was divided into two sessions. During the first, moderated by Salvador Furió, the main challenges for the simplification and optimisation of processes in multimodal logistics chains and the role that public and private technological platforms play in this regard, as well as their future evolution, were debated.

Fernando Liesa, from the Alliance for Logistics Innovation through Collaboration in Europe (ALICE), Jaime Luezas, from Puertos del Estado, Alexandre Sánchez, from the APV and Miguel Ángel Sánchez, an expert in Strategy and Business Transformation, took part in this round table.

The last session of the day focused on the digitalisation and standardisation in the operation of rail freight transport with origin-destination ports, highlighting the key role of the IRAIL project, coordinated by Fundación Valenciaport, which has brought together all the agents involved in rail freight operations in Spain to address in a single forum and jointly the analysis, development and implementation of the Technical Specification for Interoperability of Telematic Freight Applications (ETI TAF) for compliance with Directive 2016/797 on Interoperability.

The speakers also gave their point of view on relevant issues for rail-port traffic, such as the application of the TAF TSI not only to direct trains but also to those that stop at stations adjacent to ports and enter and leave them for shunting; the integration of information exchange processes relating to the movement of trains and cargo; and the solutions that the SIMPLE platform could provide in terms of standardisation and digitisation in train operations.

This round table was moderated by Antonio Góngora, from Puertos del Estado, with the participation of Mickael Varga, from the European Union Railway Agency (ERA), Elena Quiñones, from Adif, José Martín, from APV, Juan Marzo, from Continental Rail, Joan Migó, from Alsa Rail, and Ignacio Huet, from Cosco Shipping Ports España.

Anniversary of Fundación Valenciaport

The conference “Challenges in the maritime-port sector: digital transformation, standardisation and optimisation” was the finishing touch to the week of celebrations to mark the 20th anniversary of Fundación Valenciaport. These celebrations started on Tuesday 28th November and included numerous conferences and activities, such as the final events of the GREEN C PORTS, EALING and CONNECT VALENCIAPORT projects; the demonstration event of the H2PORTS hydrogen project and the reunion of former students of the 32 editions of our Master in Port Management and Intermodal Transport, in which the renowned lecturer, writer and trainer, Luis Galindo, gave a speech.