Port accessOnce again this year, the Port Authority of Bilbao will have a stand (A28) at the World Maritime Week, the meeting point of reference for the maritime sector which, from 21 to 23 March, will bring together at the BEC four leading international congresses in their respective sectors: Sinaval (shipbuilding), Eurofishing (fishing industry), FuturePort (port sector) and the Ocean Energy Conference (renewable ocean energy).
In addition to holding meetings and explaining to professionals from the maritime sector the advantages of the Port of Bilbao as a strategic partner for transport and logistics, the Port Authority will also be taking active part in various events and conferences which will bring together the port, shipbuilding, maritime, oil and gas, fishing and marine renewable energy industries.
FuturePort will start on Wednesday, 22 March. The event will be opened by Carlos Alzaga, General Manager of the Port Authority, and Xabier Basañez, General Director of the BEC. This will be followed at 09.15 by a session on the sensorisation required to achieve smart ports, which will feature talks by Raúl Saiz, Pilot of the Port and Estuary of Bilbao, on the challenge of autonomous vessels in the port of Bilbao, and Cristina López, Head of the Planning and Project Management Department of the Port of Bilbao, on the AUTOPILOT project, a remote and digitalised pilotage system of her own design.
At 11.40, José Ángel Álvarez, Head of the Equipment and Maintenance Department of the Port Authority of Bilbao, will present the initiatives and plans for the energy transition in the port, such as the BilbOPS project for the electrification of the docks, within the framework of the conference ‘The role of the public sector in the energy transition and the electrification of docks’, which will also feature representatives from the Port Authority of Pasaia and of Ulsan, in South Korea.
Andima Ormaetxe, Director of Operations, Commerce and Logistics of the Port Authority of Bilbao, will open the session on digitalisation at 15.00, explaining the actions that the Port of Bilbao has taken in this field, such as the predictive one-stop shop to facilitate operations, traceability and security in the port facilities.
The congress will also feature a number of insights and perspectives into key aspects related to creating the ports of the future. One of these will be the talk to be given by Fernando Pacheco, General Manager of MSC Cruises Spain, who will present an innovative system of digital twins that enables cruise ship processes to be simulated, anticipating costs and considerably increasing efficiency on board. Additionally, Jesse Fahnestock, Director of the Decarbonisation Project at the Global Maritime Forum, will explain the environmental alternatives represented by the ‘Green Corridors’ and the results of the innovative study to accelerate the decarbonisation of international maritime transport.
World Maritime World will also host the Board of Directors Meeting of SEA Europe, the Shipyards and Maritime Equipment Association of Europe; the Basque Maritime Forum, to promote maritime culture and the competitiveness of companies in the sector; and CABFishMan, an international project aimed at improving the protection of the marine environment and its resources in the Northeast Atlantic.
In addition, on 23 March, once the World Maritime Week is over, those who so wish will have the opportunity to enjoy a guided tour of the Port of Bilbao. The meeting point for this tour will be the main entrance to the BEC, at 16:00. Those wishing to go on the guided tour should register before 21 March at the following link: Visit to the Port of Bilbao.
For further information on the full programme of the World Maritime Week, go to: World Maritime Week
