The first edition of Smart Digital Ports has been a complete success by Victor Montero, director of the event

The Port of Tarragona is adapting to the new times in all its fields. For this reason, Tarragona has hosted a state-wide initiative, the first Smart Digital Port day. It has been a day organized by the Tarragona Smart Mediterranean City Foundation with the collaboration of the Port of Tarragona, State Ports and Repsol. The day has served to address issues related to the digital transformation of ports. Among those present, there have been professionals of logistics and port administration, as well as professionals related to companies linked to the sector.

According to the event director, Víctor Montero, the goal is to deal with "the process of changes in the port management model in the face of the modernization imposed by the digital age". That is why the leaders of the organization chose "for creating three discussion tables. The first, 'Smart Port', to talk about how to introduce these tools that already exist within internal management. The second, which we have called 'Green Port', revolves around environmental issues (including water and air quality sensors) and the third, Puerto Sinchromodal, wants to provide solutions to the management of cargo and traffic of ships".

The event was attended by Josep Andreu, president of the Port of Tarragona, Josep Fèlix Ballesteros, mayor of Tarragona, José Llorca Ortega, president of State Ports, Ramón Ignacio García, general director APT and directors of other port authorities.

Some 70 people have attended the first state day "Smart Digital Port." Among the prominent speakers, Miguel Ángel Pesquera, Professor of Transport. E.T.S. and a travel engineer at the University of Cantabria, has talked about the need for ports to evolve to smart digital ports, not only with the application of new technologies, but also with a change of governance, which has to be more collaborative and less competitive. The later round table on Smart Puerto has been starred by Rubén Marín Gallego, general director of the Harbour Authority of Avilés, and Juan Diego Pérez Freire, general director of the Harbour Authority of A Coruña. The intervention of the former has been about the smart applications in small ports, such as the one he runs, a ports that were technologically backward a few years ago and, thanks to the bet on the smart side, have won in competitiveness. The presentation by Pérez Freire has dealt with the internal social network of the Port of A Coruña, with a unique environment for all workers and with a very important flow of information about the institution and its activity. Ignacio Alvarez-Ossorio, general director of the AP onubense, and Joan Basora, director of Corporate Development and Sustainability of the Harbour Authority of Tarragona, have been the rapporteurs of the round table on Green Port. The first one has spoken about how technology helps the daily management of a port (the onubense) with great geographical complexity, as it is found in an estuary of 15 km long, all with special incidence in the area of the natural environment. For its part, Basra has explained the actions that have been taken in Tarragona to turn the port into a smart port and has focused its presentation on four aspects: the environment, innovation, communication and, above all, the human factor, the need to raise awareness and awareness of workers. Francesc Sánchez, Director General of the Harbour Authority of Valencia, and Catalina Grimalt, Deputy Director General of Organization and Internal Resources of the Harbour Authority of Barcelona, have spoken of the synchromodality and the need to implement decisions using the smart technologies and how this increases the efficiency of the ports. To conclude, Pablo Coto Millán, Dean of the Faculty of Economic and Business Sciences and Professor of Economic Analysis at the University of Cantabria, has presented the conclusions and discussed future trends in ports, digital transformation and global logistics. Ramón Ignacio García, general director of the Harbour Authority of Tarragona, has been responsible for closing the day.