5 November 2026
05 -11-2026 – The III Smart Ports Chair Conference has made it clear that the Spanish port system is doing its homework to consolidate a network of smart ports that meet the demands of the current context, where innovation, digitalization, and sustainability are decisive aspects.
Under the title 'Smart Ports in Action: Building the Ports of the Future', the event organized jointly with the Port Authority of Castellón, Universitat Jaume I, and Fundación PortCastelló, with the support of Puertos del Estado and the sponsorship of GMV, brought together more than 150 representatives from institutions and companies in the sector.
At the opening of the meeting, the president of the Port Authority of Castellón, Rubén Ibáñez, asserted that "the future of ports is built from today, and Castellón wants to be an active part of that path" and highlighted "the commitment to innovation, collaboration, and knowledge to advance towards smarter, safer, more efficient, and sustainable ports."
Likewise, Ibáñez stated that Castellón "has known how to play a relevant role in this field from the very beginning because we wanted to be a voice, light, and focus on an issue that has and continues to have special importance and significance for the future."
In his speech, the head of PortCastelló invited the other Port Authorities present at the conference to join this project because "the sum of all makes us even greater." "Castellón has had a priority role from the outset in this type of project," he reiterated. Ibáñez thanked the companies that support these types of projects for their participation, collaboration, and willingness to join forces to "advance together towards smart ports, which represent the path to the future and an opportunity that should not be missed.
For his part, the director of the Smart Ports Chair, Francisco Toledo, presented the conference, noting that "data is the new gold of the 21st century, and it is necessary to commit to sharing. With this conference, we aim to contribute to raising awareness about this." He also highlighted the work carried out by the authorities that make up the Smart Ports Chair Think Tank, "who are working to bring us closer to the concept of a smart port."
Toledo then introduced the first of the day's presentations, given by the Head of the Digitalization Department of Puertos del Estado, Fernando Manzano, who stated that "all information must be based on interoperability. Data must be useful, reliable, and of quality, shareable, and secure." When asked what a smart port is, Manzano commented that it must be an adaptive port that anticipates, learns, and transforms. In short, "it turns changes into opportunities."
Next, the Director of Resilience and Continuity Services at GMV, Ángel García-Madrid, explained how the NIS2, CER, and IA ACT directives are affecting organizations to protect critical infrastructures such as ports and their areas of influence: "How to protect them when the attack surface is enormous? The key lies in the architecture of the smart port, with a hyperconnected, digitized environment that connects all actors and with a governance model in which intelligence is protected in a unified way. We must define a defense architecture that allows controlling information flows, segmenting and securing areas, and guaranteeing operations." "At GMV, we advocate for a shared governance model, as a federal and collaborative model, in which all actors in the sector are involved, and we advocate for stopping thinking individually and instead connecting, coordinating, and sharing."
After this presentation, decarbonization and the security of port systems were other prominent themes of the conference. Thus, the Head of Business, Development, Security, and Resilience at ETRA, Jorge Sánchez, presented several solutions related to energy management, environmental sustainability, and comprehensive security and emergencies (HOPLON platform, which was already presented at the II Smart Ports Chair Conference).
Next, the director of PortCastelló, Manuel J. García, moderated the block dedicated to three projects funded by Ports 4.0 of Puertos del Estado that have already been implemented in real environments. The Innovation and New Technologies technician at Becsa (Simetría Grupo), Christian Abarca, explained how the Machsense project is bearing fruit in the ports of Castellón and Bilbao, which facilitated the project. For his part, the Business Development Director of NextPort, Manuel Martínez de Ubago, showed the operation of the NextPort Operational Digital Twin platform, which provides the port community with advanced descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive analytical capabilities to reinforce efficiency in decision-making. Finally, the director and innovation manager of the Official College of Customs Agents and Customs Representatives of Barcelona, Mercè Coscolla and Ramón Marco, presented the MOLA project (Logistics-Customs Operations Modules), which has been designed to respond to the need to modify all logistics-customs operations in accordance with the European Centralized Clearance.
Self-assessment as a prerequisite for becoming a smart port
The III Smart Ports Chair Conference continued with three consecutive sessions focused on the self-assessment that the Port Authorities participating in the Smart Ports Chair Think Tank have carried out in recent months. This process was based on the six areas of action established by the UNE 178110 standard on smart ports promoted by Puertos del Estado, with the aim of obtaining an initial 'snapshot' to determine the current level of smart ports in Spanish ports.
In the first of these sessions, focused on the areas of Interoperability and Digital Platform, the CTO of the Port Authority of Huelva, Manuel F. Martínez, who acted as moderator, participated along with José M. García, Alicia Yanes, Javier Segovia, and Jorge Vinuesa, representing the Port Authorities of Castellón, Seville, Balearic Islands, and Tenerife. One of the main ideas contributed in this part was that the process for defining the evaluation criteria served, above all, to clarify objectives and continue working to ensure that the standard is finally certifiable.
Next, the session on Sustainability and Customer Experience took place, moderated by the Head of the Border Control Services Area of Puertos del Estado, Jaime Luezas, with the participation of María José Rubio, Juan Manuel Díez, and Nicanor García, representatives of the Port Authorities of Castellón, Valencia, and Gijón, respectively. In the debate, it was raised that much remains to be done, especially regarding becoming more environmentally sustainable ports.
The smart ports evaluation sessions concluded with the panel led by the Deputy Director of the Smart Ports Chair, Vicente Ramón Tomás, addressing the areas of Governance and Connected Port, with the intervention of Bernat Ibáñez, Rafael Abril, and Felip Salas, from the Port Authorities of Castellón, Alicante, and the Balearic Islands. In this part, the participants highlighted the need to work together in the port sector and debated how data should be shared, among other aspects.
About the Smart Ports Chair
The Smart Ports Chair, created at the beginning of 2023 at the initiative of Universitat Jaume I and the Port Authority of Castellón with the support of Puertos del Estado, is the first university chair in Spain dedicated exclusively to smart ports. Since then, the Chair continues to advance to become a reference in promoting the digitalization and sustainability of the Spanish port system, acting as a connection node between university, business, and administration.
Currently, the Smart Ports Chair has the following collaborating entities: College of Industrial Engineers of the Valencian Community, College of Civil Engineers, Ports and Canals in the Valencian Community (which sponsors the Smart Ports Chair Award for the Best Master's Final Project), Boluda Corporación Marítima, Grupo Etra, GMV (official sponsor of the III Smart Ports Chair Conference, which will take place on November 5), Leatransa (Grupo Tervalis), Materia Holding (Quimialmel), Portsur Castellón, Grupo Raminatrans, and Simetría Grupo.
