The Councillor of Agriculture, Fisheries and Rural Development of Andalusia, Rodrigo Sánchez Haro, and the president of the Port Authority of Almeria, Carmen Ortiz, met this week with shippers who operate there to discuss the possibility of giving a boost to the maritime transport of agro-food products, especially fruits and vegetables. The port has shown to be increasingly ready for the transport of goods and is ready to welcome large international shipping companies, having worked for a while in making a container terminal viable.
At present, the fruit and vegetable sector in Almeria, the main European exporter of these products, ships its products almost entirely by road. In this context, port managers have tried to highlight the advantages of maritime transport, which they consider more profitable and efficient. Moreover, this type of transport is more environmentally-friendly, as while roads account for 72.6% of CO2 emissions, maritime transport represents just 11.8%.
In spite of this, only almonds, with 27.1%, and canned vegetables, with 12.9%, had a reasonable share of shipments made by sea in 2017. Morocco, the United States, Brazil, Canada, Saudi Arabia and China were some of the main destinations. There is also great potential for other products, since in 2017, Almeria exported more than 2.65 million tonnes of products worth 2,789 million Euro.
Source: Europa Press