• 4 min de lectura
• 4 min de lectura
With the Busan Declaration, eleven major global ports are joining forces to advance towards a more innovative, efficient, and sustainable port model.
José Alberto Carbonell, president of the Port de Barcelona, participated in the international meeting of port CEOs and presented the strategy for shore power at the Busan International Port Conference.
The Port de Barcelona is one of the 11 ports driving the Busan Port Declaration 2026, an international declaration signed by the world's leading ports with the aim of advancing innovation, strengthening the resilience of global logistics chains, and accelerating the energy transition in maritime transport and port infrastructure. The declaration was adopted within the framework of the meeting of port chief executives held in Busan (South Korea), coinciding with the 150th anniversary of the Korean port's establishment.
The declaration establishes commitments in areas such as data interoperability and digital collaboration between ports, the application of artificial intelligence to improve logistics chain management, the promotion of sustainable fuels and low-emission technologies, as well as the exchange of knowledge and best practices among ports worldwide. In this regard, specific mention is made of the International Association of Ports and Harbors (IAPH) and the International Maritime Organization (IMO) as key international platforms to promote this cooperation. Barcelona was one of the few European ports invited to the CEO meeting and shared a table with global leaders such as Rotterdam, Los Angeles, and Hamburg.
The president of the Port de Barcelona, José Alberto Carbonell, explained that "the Busan Declaration demonstrates that the main challenges of the maritime sector can only be addressed through international cooperation. Ports must work together to advance digitalization, strengthen the resilience of logistics chains, and accelerate decarbonization."
Carbonell participated in this CEO meeting on Monday along with representatives from the ports of Busan, Rotterdam, Los Angeles, Hamburg, Antwerp-Bruges, HAROPA, Singapore, Long Beach, Seattle, and Ningbo. During the meeting, port officials shared visions on the main challenges facing the maritime and logistics sector in a constantly evolving context marked by climate change, geopolitical uncertainty, increasing protectionism, and technological advances, including AI, which are substantially reshaping global supply chains and transforming the role of ports.
Yesterday, Tuesday, José Alberto Carbonell spoke at the 14th edition of the Busan International Port Conference (BIPC), one of the main international meetings of the Asian port sector. Carbonell, who attended the conference accompanied by the director of Institutional Relations of the Port de Barcelona, Ingrid Boqué, participated in the session dedicated to port decarbonization, where he presented the experience of the Port de Barcelona in the deployment of the shore power system (Onshore Power Supply, OPS), one of the key actions of the Catalan infrastructure's energy transition strategy.
During his speech, the president explained the methodology used by the Port de Barcelona to quantify greenhouse gas emissions and highlighted that berthed ships represent a significant portion of port emissions, making shore power one of the measures with the greatest potential to reduce environmental impact.
In this way, he explained the investments that the Port de Barcelona is making through Nexigen, the shore power plan, to make this energy transformation possible. He also outlined the technical and economic challenges associated with the simultaneous connection of large ships at the same quay, which requires a high capacity for electrical supply.
Finally, José Alberto Carbonell argued that shore power is a strategic and competitive long-term solution to advance towards more sustainable ports, complementary to the deployment of new decarbonized fuels, and stressed the importance of ensuring the economic viability of the investments needed to accelerate the decarbonization of the maritime sector. "At the Port de Barcelona, we are demonstrating that sustainability and competitiveness can go hand in hand. The deployment of OPS and the commitment to electrification are a fundamental step in building the emission-neutral port that society is demanding from us," concludes Carbonell.