Purposes. Manifesting. Journaling. These are concepts that in recent years have become popular to talk about goals and desires, with the idea that writing them down makes them more concrete and tangible. But beyond the individual sphere, it is an exercise that institutions also carry out —although they don't call it a vision board, but rather a strategic plan—, with the same underlying will: to define where they are going and how they want to get there. One of these institutions that usually defines and rethinks itself is the Port of Barcelona, which has presented its new Strategic Plan 2026-2030, which includes both tangible and intangible investments and objectives. All of this, under the same premise that will guide the next five years: resilience in the face of global instability.
In the case of the Port of Barcelona, the concept of resilience is not an empty or merely inspirational word, but a response to the instability of the last five years. "Maritime transport had never experienced anything similar in its entire history, at least not with such intensity, as what has been experienced in this period," summarized the president of the Port of Barcelona, José Alberto Carbonell, during the presentation of the V Strategic Plan. In a few years, maritime infrastructures have chained a series of disruptions: from the outbreak of the pandemic, which paralyzed global logistics chains, to the temporary blocking of the Suez Canal, when the container ship Ever Given ran aground in Egypt, passing through the sudden increase in demand and congestion in various ports around the world.
To these episodes have been added, more recently, the escalation of tariffs by the United States and geopolitical conflicts that strain key routes for global trade such as the Strait of Hormuz. Although, in this last case, the impact on the Port of Barcelona is limited —since traffic with the affected countries does not reach 2 or 3% of the total—, for Carbonell these episodes "have highlighted for society the importance of ports," even in daily life, with effects on oil or natural gas.
But these episodes have also evidenced another reality: the vulnerability of a globalized system to impacts that often get out of control. Faced with this reality, the Port of Barcelona is committed to resilience as the primary axis of its new strategic plan. "We do not have the power to improve the geopolitical situation, but we can minimize the impact of disruptions on our infrastructures," Carbonell defended.
However, general objectives do not go far if they are not translated into concrete and measurable goals —as also happens with personal objectives when they are set on vision boards. For this reason, the Port has translated this global objective into 120 initiatives grouped into 25 operational objectives that are part of its Strategic Plan. So, how does this commitment of the Port of Barcelona materialize? Firstly, with more infrastructures. Over the next five years, the Port of Barcelona will face "the most ambitious investment cycle in its history," according to the port institution.
It also includes the construction of new terminals —both container and railway—, the improvement of road and rail access, and the creation of new berths. This growth is complemented by the expansion of logistics activity outside the port area through CILSA, the company with majority participation from the Port of Barcelona that manages the Logistics Activities Zone (ZAL). In this regard, the Port is already working with the Generalitat to identify new spaces outside the port facilities with the aim of expanding logistics capacity.
The three pillars of sustainability
However, to deploy this ambitious investment plan, the Port of Barcelona needs good financial health. For this reason, another objective of the plan is financial sustainability: the goal is to increase cash flow by 15%, that is, the Port's capacity to generate its own resources to finance investments.