In September 2021, I had the honor and responsibility of assuming the presidency of the Ferrol-San Cibrao Port Authority. Naturally, I feel very close to this entity since I live in its area of ​​influence, and I am very aware of its crucial role in the economic and social boost to Ferrolterra and A Mariña Lucense. 

Since then, I have put all my effort into taking action concerning increasing the competitiveness, excellence, and sustainability of the Port, with the reconfiguration of the entity’s organization chart being paramount to create the most qualified teams aligned with the new purpose of the entity, beginning with the appointment of Jesús Casás López as Director of the PAFSC. 

We have launched several lines of action: 

• Update the strategy in all matters related to the economic, social, and environmental impact of the activity of the Port and the multimodal logistics chain. After an in-depth analysis of the management team and our stakeholders, we have formulated and approved the PAFSC sustainability strategy, with a 5-year action plan to work on innovation, good governance, circular economy, sustainable business, green financing, climate change, and alliances with interest groups. 
• Promote relations with different administrations, neighborhood associations, the academic sector, business organizations, employees, etc., to learn first-hand their needs and expectations from the Port Authority. To this end, numerous meetings have been held from the presidency and direction of the PAFSC.
  
  In this sense, we have also organized business and technical forums to attend to small and micro-enterprises. In addition, we’ve put them in contact with the different actors involved in the foreign trade of goods through maritime transport, both in Spain and abroad, and thus receive direct advice on the procedures to be carried out. 
• Promote the generation of green energy and reduce energy dependence, creating commitments between all the necessary agents to achieve this objective. We will promote the installation of wind, photovoltaic and green hydrogen energy generation in our facilities to supply green energy to ships in port, port activity, logistics, and industry in our area.  
• Promotion of innovation both for the treatment of information and data, as well as to support energy efficiency, green energy, recycling of materials, or using drones and robots in cleaning and surveillance tasks. 
• Work to bring the Port and its activity closer to society, increasing the value of the spaces made available to citizens, rehabilitating the historical and cultural heritage around this century-old institution, and promoting sports, cultural and leisure activities. We also put our lighthouses at the service of tourism in the municipalities where they are located, improving their signage and access. 

In 2021, we closed our traffic with a slight decrease of 0.71% despite the reduction in coal traffic, which went from moving 4.7 million tons in 2018 to 174 thousand in 2021. It was possible thanks to two main factors: the movement of goods in the Port of San Cibrao remained in the 2nd historical record of tons, and the liquid bulks of the Forestal del Atlántico and Reganosa terminals also reached record figures.

Concerning general merchandise, it should be noted that container movement represented 20.63% of this type of traffic in our Port Authority in 2021. We continued to rise in 2022, quadrupling our range of destinations and frequency of stopovers and incorporating a new regular line that will allow access to the world market for the business sector. A sector representing 96% of the Galician network and that, due to its business size, could not choose to fill a container with its merchandise. Furthermore, the groupage of goods carried out in the terminal of the Yilport group makes it easier for different companies to place their goods in the same container, considerably lowering the transport cost. 

We have provided more human and economic resources to cruise traffic since we fully understand its importance for Ferrol’s tourist and commercial sector. This activity’s gross margin represents 0.12% of the total. Still, the visit of 9 ships since September 2021 and their 6,415 passengers have generated a significant economic and social impact in our area of ​​influence, representing about 46% of annual tourists. 

In the last quarter of the year, the railway connection work to the Outer Port received a boost and reached its most important milestone in the project: the completion of the tunnel of more than 5 kilometers in length. We are working in parallel on the networks to achieve the much-needed land connection of our most competitive dock through a more economical, safe, and ultimately sustainable mode of transport. 

To conclude, we would like to thank the personnel of the Port Authority and the rest of the interest groups for their support, their work, and for sharing this new stage with us.