No president of the Generalitat has attended the presentation of the new president of the Port of Barcelona in recent years. In a period of many changes, driven by electoral calls and government disputes between JxCAT and ERC, the handover always took place in an event that went largely unnoticed, without the attendance seen this Friday at the institution with the presence of Salvador Illa.
After the long presidency of politician and businessman Sixte Cambra, between 2011 and 2018, the port has experienced a period of handovers every few years, starting with Mercè Conesa (2018-2021), the first female president, Damià Calvet (2021-2022) and Lluís Salvadó (2022-2024). The socialist government has chosen a technical profile for the new stage, with José Alberto Carbonell, the general director of the Port of Barcelona for the last 16 years. "It is a commitment to professionalism, yes; to people who know the house, yes. It is a message that when work is done well, one can reach the highest responsibility," Illa defended.
Accompanied by the consellera of Territory, Sílvia Paneque, and the secretary of Mobility and Infrastructures, Manel Nadal, the president of the Generalitat also wanted to emphasize the work done by Salvadó in the last two years. It was to him that Illa first offered the position, but the ERC leader rejected the proposal. "The change was Salvadó's own will. For my part, when something works, there's no need to change it," Illa remarked.
A very good rapport that has not been seen in the portfolio changes of recent years, despite being made within the same party or between pro-independence acronyms. Salvadó, who confirmed the offer received from Illa, thanked the president of the Generalitat for his attendance: "It is not a minor gesture. The 40,000 workers of the Port of Barcelona perceive it as a recognition that gives it the importance it deserves. We feel honored."
Beyond the political subtext, there have also been kind words for the new president of the Port of Barcelona. "The port is in the best possible hands. The president of the Generalitat has made a sensible choice," Salvadó stated. The president of Puertos del Estado, Álvaro Rodríguez Dapena, a position that had also not attended the last transfers in the port, also agreed. Rodríguez, a technician like Carbonell, with whom he has shared a good part of his career, has already warned him that now what is needed is "pick and shovel work."
Carbonell, who until now resolved the doubts that the port presidents had and remained in the background, seemed somewhat overwhelmed by the praise. "I am very fortunate," he emphasized. A Civil Engineer from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC), the new president of the Port of Barcelona began working in the infrastructure in 1991, starting in the Port Operations and Planning area, from where his replacement in the general management, Álex García Formatjé, also comes.
As he recalled, he has worked hand in hand with former presidents Jordi Valls and Sixte Cambra, as well as with Conesa, Calvet, and Salvadó. Carbonell has promised ambition, humility, and loyalty under his presidency: "Loyalty to the truth, a little-valued asset, and to institutions. Firstly to the Generalitat, also to the Ministry of Transport through Puertos del Estado, and to the two corresponding city councils, that of Barcelona and that of El Prat de Llobregat."
With the agreement for the new port accesses about to be finalized, Illa has already given Carbonell homework. "We want a Catalonia that generates prosperity and that is shared. The Port of Barcelona is an essential tool," he stated. For the president of the Generalitat, it is necessary to work to enhance synergies between the port, airport, and the Consorci de la Zona Franca de Barcelona (CZFB), and to ensure that Catalonia once again leads Spain economically.