The Port of Tarragona and the State Ports present the Agrifood International Congress

At a press conference today José Llorca, chairman of the State Ports, and Josep Andreu, chairman of the Port of Tarragona, presented the first International Congress of the agri-food sector "Agrifood International Congress” that will take place in the Port of Tarragona on April 14^th and 15^th of 2016. The Tarragona port infrastructure will be the international epicentre of the agro-food sector during this Congress, with a forecast of 100-150 representatives from companies making up the agri-food sector attending: stevedoring companies, shipping agents, importers, feedstuff manufacturers, shippers, control companies, etc.

The Agrifood International Congress is organised jointly by the Port of Tarragona and the State Ports, with the goal of generating networking, as well as analysing the challenges that are appearing in the agri-food industry and promoting the contribution of all the players involved, from production through to final production.

The website: http://www.agrifoodporttarragona.com/ has been set up, and visitors to the site can sign up for the event as well as finding all the information about the congress.

The chairman  of the State Ports, José Llorca, reviewed the current situation of the ports in the port system, in terms of the movement of agri-food products. In this sense, Llorca emphasised that "the State’s general interest ports handled over 78 million tonnes of agricultural products during 2015, a figure that represents 15% of the total goods handled by the ports": with a growth of 3.2% compared with the previous year.

In addition, the chairman of the State Ports highlighted the leadership of the Port of Tarragona in agri-food traffic. Thus Llorca added that "during 2015 the Port of Tarragona was a leader nationwide in the movement of cereals and flours, with 2.8 million tonnes; and feedstuff and fodder, with 1.6 million tonnes". Moreover, the Port of Tarragona is the leading port on the Mediterranean in bulk agri-food products, with 5 million tonnes a year.

José Llorca also stressed that 40% of the total production of feed in Spain is manufactured in the Port of Tarragona’s hinterland.

For his part, the chairman of the Port of Tarragona, Josep Andreu, highlighted the high specialisation and performance that both the stevedoring companies and the port infrastructure itself have in agri-food traffic. Andreu produced figures highlighting the positioning of the Port of Tarragona as a logistics centre for the agri-food sector, such as for example the 560.702 sq. metres that the Port has devoted to this type of traffic; the storage capacity, which stands at 1.25 million tonnes, the average productivity of 500 tonnes/hour; and the good land communications with the hinterland where these agri-food products, imported through the Port of Tarragona, are consumed.

In addition, the Port of Tarragona is becoming a connecting point between the raw material being imported to feed the sheep and beef farmed in the hinterland, and a proportion of these animals subsequently exported, also via the Port of Tarragona, destined for countries in Northern Africa.

"In holding this congress we are continuing to position Tarragona on an international level" stressed Andreu, who also wished to highlight to the leadership of the Port of Tarragona in agri-food traffic, both in Spain and in the Mediterranean, and how the port infrastructure contributes to this economic activity thanks to specialised services and infrastructures that facilitate importing.