Positive evaluation of the Port of Tarragona and ChemMed’s participation in the European Petrochemicals Conference (EPCA)

The Port and ChemMed’s representatives met with various logistics operators to present such projects as the extension of the Chemicals Wharf, La Boella intermodal terminal, the ZAL and Puerto Centro terminal.  

The Port of Tarragona and ChemMed delegation, headed by the president of both bodies, Josep Andreu, valued very positively their presence at the 52nd Annual Meeting of the European Petrochemical Association (EPCA), held in Vienna (Austria) 7 - 10 October.

With more than 2,800 participants, the EPCA is the most important meeting of the petrochemical sector in Europe and served to corroborate the advances and improvements to its positioning the Port of Tarragona has achieved with its strategy designed to improve its international projection. This can be seen from the Port of Tarragona team’s working agenda, which consisted of six sessions with port terminal operators, three with petrochemical firms, eleven with logistics operators, three with petrochemical traders and four with auxiliary companies linked to the sector. A total of 27 sessions (twice as many as in 2017) in which the future projects of the Port of Tarragona were explained, highlighting the extension of the Chemicals Wharf, the La Boella intermodal terminal, the ZAL and, new for this year’s EPCA, Puerto Centro terminal.

Likewise, advantage was taken of most of the meetings to promote the ChemMed cluster as a quality benchmark for the major opportunities our region offers. These include the availability of land, the high concentration of petrochemical firms, some of them world leaders, the high logistics efficiency available through the Port of Tarragona and its operators, and the support of all the public administrations involved. Additional positive factors include the support of the region’s business organisations and trade unions and, as a differentiating factor with respect to other clusters, the fundamental role played by the Rovira i Virgili University in offering talent, thanks to university courses of the highest standard demanded by the sector and its research centres of internationally recognised prestige. 

The different firms and agents welcomed this information very positively, taking it as evidence that Tarragona is a very active and continuously expanding territory, with a port of the future that offers many possibilities for investment.

ChemMed also cooperated in the sponsorship of the seminar organised by Argus, which this year was entitled “Olefins & Aromatics“. Held on Sunday 7 October, also in Vienna, it was attended by approximately 100 delegates, who were able to evaluate the latest trends in the different products offered by the sector.

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