The Port of Barcelona concretes its succession by moving away from political appointments and opting for a technical profile. The new president will be the current general director, José Alberto Carbonell, a very well-known face within the port world. An appointment that has been delayed since the arrival of the socialist Salvador Illa to the presidency of the Generalitat at the beginning of August, a deference to the government team captained by Lluís Salvadó (ERC) which has been immersed in recent months in the celebration of the America's Cup.
Carbonell (Barcelona, 1964) knows very well the institution he will now preside over, once the Govern announces it this Tuesday after the weekly meeting of the Consell Executiu. A Civil Engineer from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC), he began working at the Port Authority of Barcelona (APB) in 1991 and, after assuming different responsibilities within the organization, was appointed general director in 2009.
Since then, he has been in charge of the day-to-day operations of the infrastructure, one of the city's main economic engines, being the one who provided the more technical data in the explanations shared with successive presidents, who were more political. The executive completed his training with a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from EADA and a Senior Management Program (PADA) from IESE.
Carbonell will replace Lluís Salvadó, appointed by ERC after Junts left the Govern and indicted for the preparations for 1-O. This will represent a change in the trend of recent years with frequent changes in the Catalan executive, when each election or breakup between government partners resulted in the arrival of professionals more linked to the administration and not so much to the port sector. After the long presidency of the politician and businessman Sixte Cambre, between 2011 and 2018, presidencies have rotated more frequently, starting with Mercè Conesa (2018-2021), the first female president, Damià Calvet (2021-2022) and Lluís Salvadó (2022-2024).