Tarragona will host the world forest products transportation summit

The Port of Tarragona and Euroroports Ibérica to host almost 600 delegates from the world’s paper and paper pulp industry

The event is organised by the International Forest Products Transport Association (IFPTA) with the support of Fastmarkets RISI and will be held on 16, 17 and 18 September

The Port of Tarragona and its strategic partner Euroports will host the 23rd biannual meeting of the pulp and paper transport sector, better known as the PPI Transport Symposium or the Pulp & Paper Industry Transport Symposium, on 16, 17 and 18 September. This is the first time it is being held in Spain, more specifically in the city of Tarragona and at the PortAventura Convention Centre. The event will bring together more than 600 delegates and 50 exhibitors from 25 different countries and its aim is to help the sector’s businesses set their strategic agendas for the coming years.

This symposium for the paper pulp transport industry has been held for more than 30 years, most recently in Savannah, Georgia (United States) in 2017. It takes place every two years, each year in a different city and alternating between Europe and the United States. The objective of the conference is to analyse world trends in the worldwide transport, handling and distribution of forest products and it is aimed at the senior management of paper pulp production companies, wood product manufacturers, seaports, logistics providers, hauliers, value chain technological providers, warehousing companies, transportation consultants, etc.

The 23rd Symposium will be used by sector to discuss the decisions that need to be taken regarding the paper pulp supply chain for the coming years. It will also offer business and cooperation opportunities to all the agents involved in the industry by bringing together producers, providers and consumers from Europe (61%), North America (25%), South America (7%), Asia (4 %), the Middle East (2%) and Oceania (1%).

Port of Tarragona, a paper pulp hub

The Port of Tarragona is the most important port for paper pulp in Spain and the third most important in the Mediterranean in terms of traffic. As part of its cargo diversification strategy it currently handles some 600,000 tons (in 2018) of paper pulp and its derivatives, with the principal operator being Euroports Ibèrica.

Thanks to its strategic alliance with Euroports, the Port plays a major role in the sector and is currently considered a "paper pulp hub port”. It also presents excellent prospects for growth in this area thanks to its port facilities, Mediterranean maritime connections, intermodality and rail and road connections with the rest of Spain and northern Europe.

Euroports is one of the largest maritime logistics operators in the world and currently handles more than 14 million tons of forest products. It is an international port infrastructure company that develops, operates and manages worldwide solutions in the maritime supply chain for international clients in key sectors of the industry. The multinational firm operates and manages a network of port terminals at strategic points in Europe and Asia. Its only operation in Spain is in the Port of Tarragona where it is a strategic partner in the handling of paper pulp, minerals and agri-food products.

The Port’s role as a hub or node in this sector is due to its positioning as a maritime-intermodal reception and redistribution point for this range of products. The paper pulp that arrives at the Port of Tarragona largely comes from the world’s main exporting countries in South America and northern Europe (which account for almost 80% of the world supply). After crossing the Atlantic Ocean, the first port of call in the Mediterranean for the large paper pulp transporting vessels is Tarragona, where they take advantage of the Port’s deep draughts (16.5 m), which very few Mediterranean ports can offer. The paper pulp is warehoused in the Port before being distributed to the end customers overland or by sea to other ports, mainly in Mediterranean basin countries.

Opening ceremony in the Amphitheatre

The city of Tarragona will host the opening ceremony of the 23rd Pulp & Paper Industry Transport Symposium at 6.30 pm on 16 September in the Parc de les Granotes and the Roman amphitheatre. The ceremony will be attended by the majority of the companies taking part in the symposium, senior representatives of the organising bodies, the CEO of Euroports Ibérica, Pablo Garcia, the President of the Port of Tarragona, Josep Maria Cruset, and city and government authorities. Among other activities on the inaugural programme, the symposium delegates will visit the Euroports terminal in the Port of Tarragona, enjoy a guided tour of the Amphitheatre and experience a display of human towers (more information on the opening ceremony at https://bit.ly/2Ld0Bfx).

The rest of the symposium programme will be held in PortAventura Convention centre on 17 and 18 September. The 2 conferences, 9 round tables and 4 workshops to be organised over the two days will analyse the major trends in the world economy, the future evolution of means of transport (ship, train), the role of emerging markets (especially China and the Middle East) and digitalisation, among other subjects. The Port of Tarragona will run one of the workshops to be held in the afternoon of the 17th in which it will explain the competitive advantages of operating through its facilities, highlighting its good communications with the centre of the Iberian Peninsula and northern Europe by both rail and road (more information on the programme at https://events.risiinfo.com/transport-symposium/program)

Organisers and partners

The event organiser is the International Forest Products Transport Association (IFPTA), the only professional network association for the world’s forest product logistics sector. Its mission is to foster networking among its members, as is the case of this biennial symposium.

IFTA will have the technical support of Fastmarkets RISI, a price reporting, analytics and events organisation company for the global forest products, metals and industrial minerals markets sector. This organisation’s clients represent more than 97% of the world’s forest products sector, for which it provides information services on critical data, prices, financial services, commodities, telecommunications and legal markets. It has become the world’s most reliable provider of market and price analysis for the forest products sector. It currently has operations in London, New York, Boston, Atlanta, Oakland, Eugene, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Brussels, Helsinki, São Paulo, Shanghai, Beijing and Singapore.

The hosts of this event are the Port of Tarragona and Euroports Ibérica.