These days, Port Summit Korea 2021, the business mission of the Port de Barcelona, is being held. From this Tuesday until Friday, the Barcelona institution virtually hosts this logistical and commercial meeting between Asia and Europe. This is the second mission carried out virtually, allowing contact between logistics agents, port operators, and shippers despite the pandemic. It is an event that this year already marks 23 editions.
On this occasion, as in all previous years, the business mission aims to foster cooperation between the Barcelona and Korean logistics communities, especially with the Port of Busan, as well as trade between the Asian country and Europe, with the Port de Barcelona as the main logistics hub for this international trade.
For the Port de Barcelona, Korea is a strategic market. It is a country that, with 51 million inhabitants, has positioned itself as the tenth largest economy in the world and the fourth in Asia, excelling in industrial sectors such as electronics, automotive, transport industries, and chemicals.
Given these characteristics, it is at a similar level to Spain on an international scale: if Korea is the tenth richest country in the world in terms of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Spain ranks 14th. However, trade relations between both countries, as well as reciprocal investments, still have a long way to go.
Likewise, despite being a primarily export-oriented economy, Korea is a mature market for imports. In the Catalan case, sales of food, pharmaceuticals, and plastics stand out. This represents a great opportunity for local sectors of gourmet products, autonomous vehicles, environment, and artificial intelligence, among others.
Participation of top institutional officials
The Port Summit Korea 2021 program features the participation of top institutional officials from the port and logistics sector. At the inauguration, held on Tuesday, the presidents of the ports of Barcelona and Busan, Damià Calvet and Kang Joon Suk; the general secretary of the Ministry of Vice-presidency and Digital Policies, Ricard Font; the commissioner for the Promotion of Barcelona, Pau Solanilla; the deputy director of the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries of South Korea, Suyeon Kim, and the Spanish ambassador to Korea, Juan Ignacio Morro, participated.
As highlighted at the inauguration by the president of the Port of Barcelona, commercial relations between Spain and South Korea are essential for the Catalan infrastructure, through which 34% of all goods, in value, moving between both countries pass. Broadening the focus, Asia is the main market for the Port of Barcelona, as it is the origin of 74% of import containers and the destination of 48.5% of export containers.
Barcelona and Korea, connected with regular container and car carrier lines
The presentations at the Port Summit Korea 2021, especially aimed at logistics agents and importers and exporters from Korea and Catalonia, served to present the services offered by the Port of Barcelona as a Euro-Mediterranean logistics and distribution hub. Currently, three regular container shipping lines and three car carriers ---ships for vehicle transport--- connect Barcelona with the main Korean ports.
In addition to having a strategic location, the Catalan port offers international logistics operators excellent regional connectivity. It can do so thanks to the complete offer of short sea shipping with Italian and North African ports. Regular rail services that connect it daily with the main markets of Spain and Southern Europe also contribute to this.
Currently, three regular container shipping lines and three car carriers connect Barcelona with the main Korean portsThe program of the Port Summit also included a Technical Customs Seminar, in which representatives from the Customs of Busan and Barcelona participated. The peculiarities of customs procedures in the Port of Barcelona and in Korean ports ---considered among the most advanced in the world--- have been made known, with the aim of providing all facilities for the import and export of goods.
The Catalan representatives have also explained to their Korean counterparts the commitment that the Port of Barcelona is making to innovation and environmental, economic and social sustainability. Thus, the smart port model being developed in the Catalan capital has been explained, with the use of innovative technologies, such as artificial intelligence, the internet of things or big data.
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Barcelona advances in the future logistics platform connected with Korea, the Mediterranean and southern Europe
The ports of Barcelona and Busan have signed an agreement this week to launch the company responsible for managing and promoting this new logistics platform, through which the Korean port will have a stable position in the Barcelona Logistics Activities Zone (ZAL). Named B2B Logistics Busan & Barcelona hub, it will have an area of about 9,000 square meters, which can be expanded if there is sufficient demand from Korea. It is expected to start operating in 2022. The agreement that has made this new platform possible also contemplates the possibility of locating a platform for Catalan companies in the South Korean port.
In this company, the Port of Barcelona holds 49% of the shares and 51% corresponds to the Port of Busan. With this distribution, the vice president of the Asian port, Boo-Won Kang, will be its president, and the head of strategy of the Port of Barcelona, Jordi Torrent, its executive director.
The agreement that has made this new platform possible also contemplates the possibility of locating a platform for Catalan companies in the South Korean portThe future logistics platform in the Port of Barcelona is part of the strategy followed by the South Korean infrastructure to have advanced logistics positions for its companies in different parts of the world. In Europe, it also has one in the Port of Rotterdam (Netherlands), which serves the north of the continent. The one in Barcelona will serve the south, especially the Spanish, French, Portuguese, and Italian markets.
"Our advanced logistics services, our direct rail connections with the heart of Europe, unique in the Iberian Peninsula, our customer orientation, and the exclusive logistics platform for Korean companies that we inaugurated make us, without a doubt, the best logistics option for Korean companies in Southern Europe and the Mediterranean," defends Calvet.
This week's presentation is the result of the cooperation agreement signed a year ago by the port authorities of Barcelona and Busan, which includes the development of a logistics center in the Catalan capital. The project aims to boost logistics flows between Asia and Europe through the two ports. It will also help to more competitively distribute Korean products in Europe and, potentially, in North Africa, thanks to the services and connectivity offered by the Port of Barcelona.
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