Port accessFollowing this latest edition in Amsterdam, Coastlink 2025 will be held in Bilbao
The Port of Bilbao has returned from the prestigious Coastlink conference, held this year in Amsterdam, with an official invitation to host next year’s edition. Coastlink is the meeting place for the main players in short sea shipping (SSS) in Europe.
This year’s conference brought together a large number of ports, terminals, shipping lines and logistics experts to analyse trends in SSS, all of whom agreed on the growing importance and demand for this sector, especially for unaccompanied ro-ro transport.
Coastlink also highlighted the key role of public-private collaboration in the development of green freight corridors, developing short sea shipping services as an alternative to road transport, generating renewable energies and promoting the production of green fuels. The experts agreed that ports such as Bilbao must take the lead and reinforce their role as hubs.
The Port of Bilbao, an expert in SSS, will take over from Amsterdam as the host for Coastlink 2025. As Andima Ormaetxe, Operations, Commercial, Logistics and Strategy Director of the Port Authority of Bilbao, explained, the port “is taking certain risks to help its customers deliver their decarbonisation objectives”, adding that “it is pioneering initiatives such as the electrification of its docks, the development of a green corridor
in the Atlantic Arc to move freight transport away from road haulage to short sea shipping, and to become a renewable energy and green hydrogen hub, in collaboration with the ports of Amsterdam and Duisburg”.
The Port of Bilbao offers around 20 regular weekly connections with at least 35 countries on the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts of Europe, as well as the Mediterranean side of Africa.
The report “Green Shipping Corridors in and out of Spain: assessing route-based opportunities”, drawn up by the Global Maritime Forum, has highlighted the strategic location and commitment to sustainability of the Port of Bilbao for the development of green shipping routes, thus contributing to the objective of decarbonising maritime transport.
