A renewed roadmap to address the stormy journey of port competitiveness

The focus is also on automating logistics operations as much as possible to achieve greater efficiency, as argued by Juan Manuel Martín, senior manager at the international consulting firm Ocean Capital Partners (OCP), which specializes in the port sector. "Forecasts estimate that the volume of goods moved in containers will increase because logistics operations can be automated to a great extent. Therefore, what will increase port efficiency is the automation of terminals. Containers can already be loaded and unloaded automatically from a ship using a crane without personnel. And there are platforms that indicate the optimal location of a container in the container yard. This saves time and money." Martín gives an example: "For solid bulk cargo (wheat, flour, sand, gravel, etc.), many ports have installed conveyor belts and have gained efficiency. If a port moves many tons of cement because it has a cement plant three kilometers away, it's worthwhile to automate that transport with these solutions. It saves on emissions and costs.".