Portugal and Spain need to accelerate the realization of the infrastructures and build a joint vision for intermodality, capable of integrating rail, road, ports and terminals into a true Iberian logistics network. The message marked the First Iberian Conference on Intermodality, held at the Granja do Ulmeiro Multimodal Terminal – Alfarelos, in Soure.
Promoted by the Soure City Council, APAT – Association of Portuguese Freight Forwarders and AET – Asociación Española del Transporte, the initiative gathered institutional representatives, port authorities, rail and road operators, terminals and companies from Portugal and Spain, placing at the center of the debate the need to transform commitments undertaken in recent years into investments actually carried out and links that are truly competitive.
At the opening of the Conference, Rui Fernandes, the president of the Soure City Council, recalled that Iberian connectivity remains under discussion more than a decade after the commitments around the Atlantic Corridor for goods. “We have been talking about Iberian connectivity for thirteen years. We continue to talk about it as if it were new,” he said, noting that Portugal and Spain remain “halfway between political intent and built infrastructure.”
For Rui Fernandes, the current process of reorganizing supply chains opens an opportunity for Portugal and Spain to strengthen their position in European logistics. Nearshoring, the search for shorter and more resilient supply chains, and the diversification of sourcing routes may benefit the Iberian Peninsula, but that opportunity will depend on the ability to offer good accessibility and railway connections and terminals with the capacity to meet the needs of companies.
It is in this context that the mayor highlighted the Alfarelos Multimodal Terminal, stressing that it is not a future project, but an infrastructure already in operation, with multimodal cargo transshipment, a link to the Port of Figueira da Foz and use by companies such as IKEA and Colep.
Also the president of APAT, Joaquim Pocinho, argued at the opening session for the need to move away from a strictly national view of logistics. “There is no true Portuguese logistics strategy without an Iberian dimension,” he said, noting that Portugal and Spain constitute a deeply interdependent economic and logistical reality, with cross-border corridors and supply chains increasingly interconnected.
Joaquim Pocinho argued that this Conference can contribute to defining an Iberian agenda for intermodality, based on concrete objectives: create a common vision for Portugal and Spain; define an Iberian network of Dry Ports and intermodal terminals; reinforce freight rail and interoperability; improve the connection of ports to the Iberian hinterland; simplify procedures and accelerate digitization; create conditions for private investment; integrate sustainability, competitiveness and resilience into a common sector strategy, and, above all, think of logistics not as a sum of infrastructures, but as an economic network.
The official also sent a message to the governments of Portugal and Spain, advocating an integrated public policy for goods and logistics. In the Portuguese case, APAT believes that the objectives defined in PORTS 5+ are aligned with the needs of intermodality, but calls for the actual realization of the planned investments. “We are not asking the market to choose rail; we are asking the State to create the conditions for the market to be able to choose the best logistics solution,” emphasized Joaquim Pocinho.
Juan Mourín, President of AET, identified the barriers that still prevent Portugal and Spain from functioning as a single logistics system and pointed to a priority: to complete and put into service cross-border rail connections for goods.
For the president of AET, the potential exists and there have been some operational advances, but the Iberian logistics system remains, above all, an ambition. Technical differences, administrative barriers and the lack of coordination of investments continue to limit the fluidity of operations between the two countries and the connection of the Peninsula to central Europe.
Ending the First Iberian Conference on Intermodality, the Secretary of State for Infrastructure, Hugo Espírito Santo, stated that “intermodality does not make sense if it does not operate in a network and if it is not viewed at an Iberian level. This is about competitiveness. We will not be able to implement the Ports Plan 5+ without intermodality, and more and more it is necessary to create a logistical space across the entire Iberian Peninsula.”
Hugo Espírito Santo also stated that it is necessary to create and develop a national logistics plan, integrating all stakeholders and players in the sector and expanding transport infrastructures.
Among the participants in this first Intermodality Conference were representatives from the Ports of Sines and Algarve, Douro, Leixões and Viana do Castelo, Aveiro and Figueira da Foz, Vigo and Huelva, as well as from entities such as Infraestruturas de Portugal, APEF, Klog, Tramesa, Transitalia, Yilport, SAPEC and RodoCargo, among others.
