Ports And Their Role In Sustainable Development

In terms of economic activity, the industrial cluster comprising the 500 companies in the port community generates wealth of €3.53 billion (1.7% of the Catalan GDP) and 1.1% of all employment in Catalonia (41,200 jobs). All of this translates into benefits for the industrial and commercial fabric of the community to the tune of €9.262 billion (equivalent to 6% of the GDP and 5.4% of employment).

But the port's success does not depend only on its ability to dynamize the economy and generate employment, but also on intangible issues like society's trust and its ties to residents' prosperity. Sustainable development means meeting the needs of clients, but also those of the wide range of interest groups with ties to the port. It is important that the metropolis feel strongly and positively that having a port is a plus, which makes it easier to put down roots in the territory. The port was created alongside Barcelona, around the first century BC, and ever since has maintained the same purpose: connecting territories and fostering trade among people beyond its borders, thus facilitating their lives. Right now, it is important to work on this original idea of the positive relationship between the infrastructure and the inhabitants of its metropolis. The Sectoral Sustainability Plan and the initiatives arising from it are key tools for achieving this.

How is this influence created?

To create this type of synergy, you have to meet the expectations that the various interest groups have for this facility, although it doesn't much matter whether the response comes from the public administration or through private initiative. To make this relationship stronger and more positive, first the port's relationship to its stakeholders must change. This starts by mapping these interest groups (in our case, there are more than 30, which each have their own subgroups), and then moves on to identifying port partners (services for vessels, residents, passengers, public administrations, etc.) and identifying their corresponding expectations. From there, work begins in the spaces where the interest groups and port partners overlap.

Then, a sustainability plan is drawn up, which is what provides a series of routines on an operational level to give a down-to-earth way to approach all of these expectations: priorities in terms of lines, activities within these lines, raising awareness of the results, etc.

Each year, the Annual report classifies the results obtained in terms of figures, as well as good practices, creating a snapshot of how things are progressing in terms of sustainability. From this report, areas for improvement and shortcomings are detected, and initiatives are proposed to address these, to be carried out by the port community, in line with the UN sustainable development goals (SDG).