It is normal for a businessman to have his company on his mind: he thinks about the workplaces, their objectives, projects, pending issues and today, more than ever, about contingency plans for extraordinary moments. What is not so frequent is for the businessman to have in mind where each of his workplaces is at any given moment, because these are ships.
At the moment, the fleet totals 29 units, each with its own idiosyncrasies, destinations, crew, and missions. He also has in mind all the delegations and ports where it operates, currently 23, in Spain, Morocco, Algeria, France, the United States, Bahamas… and with a few more countries already in the pipeline to continue expanding a shipping company of which he holds 56.5%, while 42.5% is in the hands of the Empresas Matutes group, based in Ibiza.
The businessman in question is Adolfo Utor Martínez, president of Baleària, born in Al Hoceima, a former Spanish protectorate in Morocco, 59 years ago. Among the many occupations and concerns of the shipowner is also the port of Barcelona and the operation of a fleet that connects Catalonia with the ports of Ciutadella, Eivissa, Palma and Alcudia, which means that for several months a year up to four of his ships operate daily in our city. This very month his company confirmed the return of high-speed ferries to the Barcelona-Ciutadella line, with four-hour daytime crossings, practically halving the travel time of conventional ferries.
All these details are in Utor's mind: the ship assigned to each line, the captains or crew in charge, the hold capacity of each one or the needs and singular characteristics of each line, because, although in a shipping company that covers mixed passenger and cargo trips, the objective is to connect two points separated by the sea, at each of these points there is a sensibility and some singularities.
This very month Baleària has confirmed the return of high-speed ferries to the Barcelona-Ciutadella line, with four-hour daytime crossings"A port where we have a single daily rotation is not the same as a destination like La Savina, in Formentera, where we establish a continuous maritime bridge with Ibiza and even operate from there to the peninsula via Dénia, a strong commitment that has worked very well for us," he comments toThe New Barcelona Postthe president of Baleària, who also always has in mind the operations in Barcelona, one of the strategic ports for his shipping company. "Being in the peninsula-Balearic sector and not worrying about Barcelona is, simply, impossible. We have ships every day, even in the worst times of the pandemic we have been there, connecting the main islands and Barcelona", he recalls.
Their ships are responsible for a large part of the supply to Mallorca, Menorca, and Ibiza: perishable products, spare parts, construction materials, parcels, pharmaceutical products, vehicles, and a large percentage of what is sold in the islands' establishments or also what is bought online from places as diverse as houses in Santa Gertrudis de Fruitera, apartments in Fornells, or study centers in Palma de Mallorca. All of this travels every night in the hold of ferries that arrive at dawn or even earlier at each port. Hence, their fixation on punctuality and on ensuring that the entire machinery of a shipping company functions both during navigation and in port operations.
"Obviously, we analyze the needs of our operations in Barcelona every day: those who maintain our lines all year round are the transport companies, and although we also carry passengers in all seasons, it is in high season when many choose us as an alternative to air transport, and that forces us to reinforce and make a greater effort," he indicates. One of Utor's fixations is to be able to concentrate all arrivals and departures of Baleària in a single area of the port. "The current facilities are insufficient and very segregated. If we could have the three or four daily ships operating from the same point in the port, with a good dedicated terminal under concession from Port de Barcelona, we would provide a higher quality of service to our customers. Everyone would win, and with that, we will be unstoppable," he acknowledges.
When he talks about this topic, he gives as an example the improvement in the perception of their travelers that occurred when the new terminal at the port of Dénia, named Baleària Port, was inaugurated, and he also enthusiastically describes the project he has in Valencia, where the port authority of that city gave the green light a few weeks ago to the project to convert old shipyards into a spectacular terminal for Baleària, recovering the industrial heritage of that city.
This shipowner speaks with so much knowledge and enthusiasm about the sector because he knows it well. This last point is not a business cliché: he truly knows it, because when he was very young he had a variety of jobs that finally led him to contact the sector that interested him most: the maritime one. It was when he alternated his Law studies with working in the port selling tickets for the Dénia-Ibiza line, also taking charge of mooring and unmooring ships in the peninsular port closest to the Pitiusas. In the old shipping company Flebasa he held every position from the age of 23: commercial, accounting, delegations, and finally taking over the general management of the company where he started.
This shipowner speaks with so much knowledge and enthusiasm about the sector because he knows it wellYears later, in 1998, Utor convinced a group of captains, administrators, and executives from Flebasa to create a labor limited company from which Baleària Eurolíneas marítimas would be born, a grandiloquent name that commercially became Baleària and which started with a single ship with its crew, plus eight employees. From then on, growth both on its own and thanks to the acquisition or integration of former competitors is already part of the history of a shipping company, such as its arrival in Barcelona in 2003 with a high-speed ferry newly built in Italy and specially designed to operate in the old port of Ciutadella is also history, in Menorca, one of the favorite destinations for Barcelonans. The photo of its arrival was a sensation in the sector: not only was it a new player in the market, but it arrived with a very modern ship that was moored next to that of the then practically monolithic Trasmediterránea, from which it gradually began to scratch market share. After the Ciutadella line, others were also opened to Alcudia, Maó, Palma, and Ibiza.
With this, growth and fleet modernization did not stop, which is one of the shipowner's commitments: "Not only must quality be provided and the experience on board be good, but we have been very concerned about the digitalization of absolutely all procedures, both for passengers and in operations, and truly turning around the environmental issue. Not a greenwashing but a real commitment to being more sustainable. That's why all new ships already run with engines powered by Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and we are progressively re-engining older generation ships to run on LNG," he clarifies when describing a fuel that significantly lowers emissions compared to fuel oil and which, in addition to being a clear commitment of the shipping company, is also one of the Port de Barcelona, a pioneer in the Mediterranean in supplying it.
"All new ships already run with engines powered by LNG and we are progressively re-engining older generation ships to run on LNG," states UtorObviously, 2020 has been a year of challenges for the company led by Utor, which, as mentioned, did not even stop during the weeks of total lockdown in the country, demonstrating its role in the mechanism for keeping territories united, even across seas and oceans."Despite everything, we have demonstrated financial strength, and a great capacity for reaction, flexibility, and adaptation. The effort made by all teams has been impressive, and we are prepared to face the recovery with new energy, optimism, cohesion, and motivation. There is no other way.", Utor indicated, this time in the presentation of the company's results, in which it was confirmed that the significant reduction in passenger traffic in the Strait area ---the Moroccan border remained closed to people--- and the Balearic Islands was compensated by the growth of travelers on routes to the Canary Islands and stability in general cargo transport and the growth of ro-ro cargo to and from the Canary Islands.
As the president of Baleària states, the future involves digitalization, better coordination of all procedures, optimization of resources, sustainability, gender equality ---for some years now, all ships joining the fleet have been named after illustrious women to compensate for a historical deficiency in the sector--- and obviously it also involves Barcelona, a key port with which the shipping company wants to continue working and improving its operations. As an example of this commitment, the already mentioned return of high-speed boat services as a complement to conventional and new-generation ferries that serve as a bridge to the Balearic Islands.