2023 has been a very important year for the Port of Huelva, as we have celebrated the 150th anniversary, a milestone which has underlined the important role our port plays as an engine for the economic and social development of Huelva and the region. The new Strategic Plan for the Port of Huelva 2023 to 2030, with a vision to 2050, has been approved.
This brings to a close a stage in which the time horizon of the previous Strategic Plan 2012-2017 with a vision to 2022 has been fulfilled, achieving the objectives of consolidating and diversifying the business, increasing competitiveness, relations with the surrounding community and integration with the environment.
The new Strategic Plan with a vision to 2050 entails continuity with the previous one in its commitment to logistics, competitiveness, digitalisation and sustainability, it is also a roadmap to progress to become, as its vision envisages, an industrial and energy cluster with added value, an intermodal and logistics hub, an environmentally, socially and economically sustainable port, a port integrated into its territory and a technological, innovative and knowledge port.
As an energy and industrial cluster, focused on promoting clean fuels, the current importance of the energy industry in our environment puts us in the major national decarbonisation strategies, such as hydrogen, methanol and green ammonia. In fact, several companies have already announced large-scale clean energy projects.
Moreover, the importance of environmental, economic and social sustainability, together with digitalisation, in the new plan, puts business and logistics issues on the same level as environmental, innovation and people issues.
In terms of port traffic volume, the financial year 2023 closed with a result of 30 million tonnes of goods, with the stability of the solid bulk figures standing out, with a volume of 5.7 million tonnes, compared to the upward trend in general cargo, which recorded a volume of more than 1.4 million tonnes, an increase of 12.53%.
In terms of container movements, more than 88,800 TEUs have been moved, 9.17% more than in the same period in the previous year.
According to these data, the Port of Huelva’s commitment to diversifying its activity as an intermodal and logistics port is bearing fruit in the growth of conventional general cargo, roll-on/roll-off and containerised cargo, which is concentrated in the intermodal platform at the South Quay.
Together with these figures, the consolidation of the Port of Huelva’s positioning as a node of the Atlantic Corridor of the Ten-T Network, a leader in connections with the Canary Islands, must be highlighted as a notable feature of 2023. On the other hand, the recent launch of the Huelva-Casablanca-Spanish Mediterranean connection is also significant, in addition to the regular maritime connections between Huelva and northern Europe.
But if the past year has been characterised by one thing, it has been by the growing activity of the companies in the port community, which has resulted in a record for the granting of concessions and authorisations for public port space, after reaching the figure of 4.1 million square metres, distributed among the 300 companies that hold them.
We have also continued to make progress in bringing the Port closer to the city, through our Corporate Social Responsibility line, supporting social, cultural and sporting projects and also engaging in significant actions to remodel the port front in our aim to continue to connect the port with the citizens.
