Bilbao to host the Project Cargo Summit
On 16 and 17 September, for the third consecutive year, Bilbao will once again become the capital of the project cargo industry by hosting the Project Cargo Summit, the annual event that brings together professionals, logistics operators, shipping lines, ports, freight forwarders and specialist companies from around the world to discuss the major challenges that are transforming the sector.
Over the course of two days, the summit, which has chosen the theme “The advantage of change: turning volatility into value”, will address the challenges and opportunities facing the project cargo, breakbulk and heavy lift sectors, ranging from geopolitical uncertainty and changes in trade policies to the energy transition, fleet developments and the evolving needs of logistics chains. The event programme includes a comprehensive schedule of conferences, panel discussions and informative presentations, as well as networking opportunities.
The event will begin on Wednesday 16 September with a visit to the facilities of Navacel on the Bilbao river estuary, where industry professionals will be given a first-hand insight into the industrial ecosystem of the Port of Bilbao and its role in supporting offshore wind and marine energy projects. During the site visit, participants will see how large offshore structures are manufactured, assembled and transported through industrial operations that combine manufacturing, machining and logistics on the quayside itself.
On Thursday 17 September, the event will move to the Carlton Hotel in Bilbao, where Ivan Jimenez, president of the Bilbao Port Authority, will open proceedings by highlighting the role played by Bilbao as a leading European hub for project cargo and breakbulk. Both of these strategic sectors have particularly demanding requirements, and the local hinterland and port community are exceptionally well-equipped to provide multimodal solutions and handle oversized and heavy-lift items, machinery, industrial and energy components and complex door-to-door projects.
This will be followed by three separate sessions, with the titles ‘Winning through geopolitical volatility’; ‘The energy transition – ambition meets reality’; and ‘The next wave of logistics innovation’. Andima Ormaetxe, Director of Operations, Commercial Affairs and Logistics at the Bilbao Port Authority, will take part in the third of these sessions, specifically in the debate ‘Agile port: specialised player or an adaptable hub?’.
Together with Ian Palacio, Business Development Manager at Portsmouth International Port; Tacy Jin, Business Development Manager at the Port of Esbjerg; and Albert Pegg, Senior Vice President at Apollo Global Experts Network, Ormaetxe will discuss the increasingly important role that ports are playing as cargo flows grow more complex and demanding. The panel will also debate whether the optimal model is a highly specialised project cargo player or a more versatile and adaptable logistics hub, weighing up the advantages and disadvantages that each approach offers for ports and their customers.
The recent operation involving the transport of the largest monopiles ever built in southern Europe is a clear example of the capacity of the Port of Bilbao and its port community to handle, load and transport cargo of any weight, size and/or nature. This operation has further consolidated the status of Bilbao as a strategic hub for the wind power industry and the energy transition, as well as for the logistics of industrial components.
With a diameter of 11 metres, a length of over 105 metres and a weight of over 2,300 tonnes, the monopiles manufactured by Haizea Wind Group at its own port facilities in Bilbao have been delivered to the Danish company Ørsted for installation in the world’s largest offshore wind farm, in the North Sea, set to have a capacity of 2.9 GW and to supply clean energy to more than 3.3 million households.
