A plan to contribute to economic, social and environmental sustainability

The Port Authority of Bilbao has presented its Strategy Plan for the period 2023-26 with the firm objective of building the best possible future, rooted in sustainability in all its dimensions and with responsibility towards its economic, social and environmental surroundings at its core.

Based on this premise, the Port Authority has laid the foundations to continue to move forward with three value propositions: to drive and support the port's customers in their efforts to address and meet the challenges arising from the energy transition; to sustain the competitiveness of the region's industry by adapting infrastructure and services to its needs and requirements; and to further intensify its efforts to contribute to the social and economic environment, thereby ensuring that its value to society is enhanced.

In this sense, the strategy follows from the mission of the Port Authority to improve the competitiveness of the port's customers by contributing to the sustainable social and economic development of its catchment area. Aligned to this, the vision of the Port of Bilbao is to be a reference hub in logistics chains on the Atlantic Axis, helping to improve the competitiveness of the economic and business fabric by providing value-added and sustainable services. In doing so, the organisation will at all times be mindful of and guided by its values of customer focus, a collaborative culture, commitment to people, excellence, ethics and professionalism.

The Strategy Plan sets out five key areas of activity for the next four years, three of which are external and two, internal, with related targets for 2026:

1. To be an environmental benchmark: promoting the energy transition in the port, with environmental sustainability as a critical factor for competitiveness. In this sense, the following decarbonisation targets have been set: 40% reduction in CO2 emissions; the electrification (OPS) of 30% of the docks; and 30 MW installed capacity for self-generation.
2. To provide a smart specialisation and to create value: making the port of Bilbao the benchmark for Atlantic traffic, capturing new opportunities for growth and maximising value creation for the region. The objective is to double ro-ro traffic, boost container traffic by 30% and increase bulk business by two million tonnes.
3. To offer differential services and facilities: further enhancing the portfolio and provision of high added value services, focused on generating value for customers (digitalisation, infrastructures). To this end, work is being done on a predictive one-stop shop and on completing strategic works (Central Breakwater and AZ1).
4. To attract people, knowledge and talent: developing the future capabilities of the Port Authority of Bilbao, ensuring knowledge transfer and attracting new talent.?
5. To ensure economic and financial sustainability: ensuring the economic and financial balance of the organisation is maintained, controlling the level of debt and with an investment, by the Port Authority of Bilbao alone, of around EUR 200 million over the period 2023-26.

The Strategy Plan is the result of an exhaustive analysis of future trends and their implications. Seven external macro-trends were identified: sustainability and energy transition, digitalisation, integration of logistics chains, new shipping routes, state regulations, socio-economic changes and ESG. Four internal strategic challenges related to the organisational model were also identified; way of working and capabilities, innovation and digitalisation, corporate communication and the economic-financial situation.

At the same time, the strategic reflection process was based on a participative approach. In addition to all the areas and departments of the Port Authority itself, representatives from the port community and different stakeholders such as shipping agents, operators, carriers, shipping companies, freight forwarders, industrialists, shippers, technical-nautical services and related public institutions have participated. The Strategy Plan is also aligned to the Strategic Framework drawn up by the Spanish State Ports Authority.