The economical and social influence of the ports of Catalonia in its territorial organization. Considerations about the optimisation of its resources.

Transcription

1 The economical and social influence of the ports of Catalonia in its territorial organization. Considerations about the optimisation of its resources. J. Olivella Cruset\ F. Sole Parellada* & J. Olivella Puig* *Department of Science and Nautical Engineering, Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, Catalonia, Spain. ^Department of Management, Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, Catalonia, Spain. Abstract Catalonia is one of the most important motor powers of the Spanish economy, and its ports are one of the factors of this succesful result. Moreover, it is well known the importance of the ports of Catalonia in the Mediterranean Sea, specially the ports of Barcelona and Tarragona, as a reference when companies need to decide their introduction in the South Europe market. The study of the present situation of the ports of Catalonia can offer a real view of it in order to understand the economical and social influence in the territorial organization of the country. Therefore it is possible to explain the relationship between the ports, considering all kind of ports, and the territorial organization, considering location of population, companies and natural resources. The objectives of the study have been to optimizate the resources of the ports of Catalonia and to give some ideas about which is the best way for the development of them in order to obtain an excellent economical and social efficiency. Nowadays, it is not possible to carry out a study like that without considering quality, so in this case quality is an important item. In the same direction, it has been considered environment, because ports and all the industries in relation with them need a strict control of it.

2 4 Maritime Engineering and Ports II 1 Introduction The study of the economical and social influence of the ports of Catalonia in its territorial organization was born as a contribution to the study of the necessities of this little region of Europe. In the figure 1 [1] it is possible to place Catalonia in the geographical context of Europe and the Mediterranean Sea. Figure 1. Catalonia in Europe. Catalonia is one of the most important motor powers of the Spanish economy as it has been said in the abstract. This importance comes from different items, but its ports and all the possibilities that they can offer to the companies are one of the most outstanding items. In the figure 2 [2] it is possible to see the distribution of the ports of Catalonia along its coast.

3 Maritime Engineering and Ports II Figure 2. Catalonia's coast. 2 Main concepts and definitions During the study of the ports of Catalonia and its relationship with the territorial organization, there were some main concepts and definitions that have become essential in order to define perfectly all the Catalonia's coastal and to characterize "' Moreover it is necessary to have a general idea about which kind of regulations have the ports of Catalonia, because it is possible to find autonomous ports and others controlled by a public company.

4 6 Maritime Engineering and Ports II The first main concept is hinterland [3], which, as it is well known, is the terrestrial zone origin and destination of all the goods that they were loading and unloading in a harbour. This definition establishes a direct relation between ports and territorial distribution of wealth, which is the same that to talk about the distribution of population and enterprises. This concept has also a direct relation with the territorial distribution of the different means of transport, as it will be explained later on. The second concept is hub port: nowadays this concept is known as a distribution port of intermodal traffic of great vessels to another ports of the region using connection services [4]. This definition is not really clear enough because it is possible that one port can be only hub port of some goods and it can not be hub port of the rest. The voreland [3] is another concept that it is necessary to bear in mind. The voreland is the group of ports origin and destination of the goods that arrive or leave from one port. Then it is possible to say that, for example, the port of Barcelona has all the world like a voreland, because the port of Barcelona sends and receives goods from a lot of parts of the planet. Intermodality is a concept that during last years is gaining an important role when talking about transport, ports and logistics. It is possible to define intermodality [4] as the whole of movements which must do the general cargo from the origin (producer) to the destination (final consignee), using different means of transport, but the main idea of regionalization is based in political decisions and the main idea of territorialization is based in geographical references. When talking about the regulation of the ports of Catalonia, it is necessary to clarify that Barcelona and Tarragona are autonomous ports and the rest of ports depend from a public company. Autoritat Portuaria de Barcelona and Autoritat Portuaria de Tarragona are the goverment body of both ports: Barcelona and Tarragona, and a public company called Ports de la Generalitat is the firm that controls the rest of them. The Front Portuari Catala is the essential connection between all these ports, it is necessary to develop the main idea of this association because, as it will be said in the conclusions, is so important to coordinate the synergies of all ports to obtain a major benefit. 3 The present situation It is possible to see distribution of the ports of Catalonia along its coast in figure 2 and infigure3 [1] the present relation between the different means of transport. In this figure it is possible to see that Catalonia is so centralized. It is known that four million people live in the area of Barcelona and the total population is of six million people, this situation creates an important lack of balance in all the territory in a lot of senses. The defined concepts like hinterland and voreland are very important in this situation, because the hinterland is so concentrated and the voreland is all the world.

5 Maritime Engineering and Ports II 1 Finally, figure 3 shows the application of the intermodality in the territory of Catalonia. As it has been said before, Catalonia is a centralized country, this means that the majority of means of transport have its origin and/or destination in Barcelona. Moreover, the vertebration of roads, motorways and railways through the country has improve during the last years but, nowadays, it continues being not so good as Catalonia needs. a Perpinan ^ a Toulouse a Toulouse vielha, ->* ff N *&»**? *7 a Andorra ^#%^^eix occidental i Zaraqoza Madrid Aeropuertos Ferrocarril a Valencia Figure 3. The presente relation between the different means of transport.

6 8 Maritime Engineering and Ports II 3.1 The port of Barcelona Figure 4 [5] shows the level of traffic at the port of Barcelona for the last years. In table 1 [6] it is possible to see the level of the most important ports in the world Figure 4. Traffic at the port of Barcelona ( ) ROTTERDAM ^ 8,20% LONG BEACH ,30% NEW YORK " ^i*mwi8& B&mism&r'&&. _, - _.,_ MANILA ^ ^ ^7,30% 1^-(^1J^KEELutl^7^"'j;?81*l75^ ^20.397'""7l14,60% 20 (20) 'BREMEN ' ' ' % () ranking del afto 96 Table 1. Traffic at the most important ports.

7 Maritime Engineering and Ports II As it is shown, the level of the port of Barcelona is similar to the last port of the most important ports traffic list. This fact indicates the importance of Barcelona as a port in the Mediterranean Sea. General cargo is the usual good of the port of Barcelona, in contrast with the other big harbour of Catalonia, the port of Tarragona, which main goods are all the product in relation with solid bulks and petrochemical industries. 3.2 The port of Tarragona Table 2 [7] shows the level of traffic at the port of Tarragona. RESUM DEL TRAFIC DE MERCADERIES (En Tm.) / RESUMEN DEL TRAFICO DE MERCANCIAS (En Tm.) / GOODS TRAFFIC SUMMARY (In Tons) Concepte / Concepto / Products PETROUS / PETRdLEO / OIL PRODUCTS Cru / Crude / Crude oil Altres / Otros / Other oil products LIQUIDS A DOLL / ORANELES LlOUIDOS / LIQUID BULKS Altres no petrolhers / Otros no petrolfferos / Other non oil products SOLIDS A LLOURE / ORANELES S6UDOS / SOLID BULKS Per instal-lacid especial / Por Instaladon especial / Dry bulks (especial facilities) Sense installacl6 especial / Sin instalacion especial / Dry bulks (by other facilities) CARREGA GENERAL / CARGA GENERAL / GENERAL CARGO Conteneritzada / En contenedores / In containers Altres mrtjans / En otros medios / By other means AVITUALLAMENT SUPPLIES / AVITUALLAMIENTO / Productes petrolftars / Productos petrolfferos / Oil products Altres / Otros / Others PESCA / PESCA / FISH TOTAL (1 ) Setembre / Septiembre / September , Var. ~%~ , , , JJ-1 1,05 Acumulat / Acumulado / Var. Accumulated ~%~ , , ,3 50,9 5, , , , ) ALTRES DADES ESTADISTIQUES / OTROS DATOS ESTADISTICOS / OTHER STATISTICAL DATA Concepte / Concepto / Products Moviment de vaixells / Movimiento de buques / Ships movement G. T. T.E.U. Setembre / Septiembre / September JI Var. % 14, Acumulat / Acumulado / Accumulated Var. % Table 2. The traffic at the port of Tarragona.

8 10 Maritime Engineering and Ports II As it has been said before, solid bulks and petrochemicals products are the main goods that it is possible to find there, in order to supply all the petrochemical industries near Tarragona. The port of Tarragona has increased all the work with solid bulks because these kinds of products have had a lot of problems in Barcelona (it is not necessary to remember all the problems with soybeans). 3.3 The other ports of Catalonia There are three important harbours among the other ports of Catalonia: Palamos (in the north), Vilanova i la Geltni (between Barcelona and Tarragona) and Sant Carles de la Rapita-Els Alfacs (in the south). These three ports have three main parts:firstof all, a marina, second one, the fishing harbour, and the last one, the commercial harbour. All of them, by its location, have a strategical place in the territorial organization of the country and they can be used to supply the enterprises in the north and in the south of Catalonia, to help Barcelona and Tarragona and to decentralize both ports, specially Barcelona. In this paper, it has been considered the role of the port in a commercial and intermodal sense in the territorial organization of Catalonia, so it is possible to assure that the main ports are too far and they are too busy. It is possible to see the importance of these ports in the vertebration of the country, and their function in the territorialization and regionalization of it. These ports supply some companies in both tips and they can supply some other companies in the South of France and in the North of Valencia, as they are doing now. 4 In the future It will be necessary to consider different items to improve different facts in the relation between the ports of Catalonia and its territorial organization. First of all, it is essential to achieve that the Front Portuari Catala may be an important tool in order that all the ports of Catalonia work together in the same direction. It seems better working together: autonomous ports of Barcelona and Tarragona and Ports de la Generalitat, than working everybody on its own way. As it is shown in this paper all the means of transportation of Catalonia are centralised in the area of Barcelona, so it will be necessary to work in order to achieve a great decentralization of this area and to work in the complementarity of the different ports. It will be necessary to improve the application of the intermodality in different sides: for example, the connection between vessels and trains and the problems of traffic in some main roads of Catalonia. Ports will develop a possibility of working as a storage of different goods in order to integrate themselves in the logistic chain like a lung: for example, in the

9 Maritime Engineering and Ports II 11 just-in-time philosophy. Moreover, it seems necessary to achive that some transformations of the different goods that are unload in the port will be done in that same port in the best way in different senses: for example, layout and storage. Finally, nowadays a lot of companies obtain the quality certification as a usual way to work better and to achieve the excellence. It is necessary that this way of thinking penetrates in the majority of the enterprises which work in the maritime environment. Moreover, this fact can allow to finish some problems with the assurance companies because of the non-quality way of working. 5 Bibliography [1] Ports de la Generalitat (ed.). Puerto de Palamos. Puerto de Vilanova i la Geltru. Puerto de Sant Carles de la Rapita. Generalitat de Catalunya: Barcelona, [2] Direccio General de Ports i Costes. Departament de Politica Territorial i Obres Publiques (eds.). El front portuari catala. Generalitat de Catalunya: Barcelona, [3] Rodriguez Perez, Fernando. Direction y explotacion de puertos. Imprenta industrial, S.A.: Bilbao, [4] Enriquez Agos, Francisco. El plan estrategico. Un instrument para la gestion portuaria. Institute Portuario de Estudios y Cooperacion (Autoridad Portuari de Valencia): Valencia, [5] (web of the Autoritat Portuaria de Barcelona). [6] Fernandez, Macario & Trueba, Alonso. The liner Shipping Industry. Strategies for Survival Massachusetts Institute of Technology: Massachussets, [7] (web of the Autoritat Portuaria de Tarragona).