The aim of the project was to develop a plan that would improve the competitive position of the freight forwarder sector in the Port of Valencia, both in terms of its positioning against key competitors, as well as in terms of access to international markets. The backdrop to this work was a time marked by a severe economic crisis and a profound transformation of the transport and logistics sector, with the emergence of large groups linked to multinational logistic operators and processes of horizontal and vertical concentration, giving rise to ever-larger terminal operators and shipping companies with a great deal of power in maritime operations.

These two circumstances required the implementation of measures to enable, on the one hand, the generation of intrasectoral cooperation mechanisms in order to meet the challenges of increasing international competition; and, on the other, progress in the deployment of innovative systems in all parts of the sector, including innovation management, training, the use of new technologies, etc.

To achieve this objective, the following analyses were carried out:

• a general diagnostic analysis of the Valencian freight forwarding sector,
• an analysis of the current environment and
• sectoral benchmarking with other geographical areas

The results of these analyses were then used to produce a SWOT analysis of the freight forwarding sector. This provided the starting point for the studies of different working groups, in which a set of recommendations or lines of action were identified and prioritized; these comprise the Competitiveness Plan for the Valencian freight forwarding sector. This set of recommendations includes actions of a commercial nature, related to the business structure; to co-operation between actors; to cost reduction; to the improvement or update of services; to the implementation of new technologies; or aimed at filling the gaps identified in terms of training.