The president of Ports of the State, Gustavo Santana, has warned that the European carbon emission trading system (EU-ETS) is causing a diversion of maritime traffic and investments to ports in third countries outside the European Union, posing a direct threat to the connectivity and competitiveness of the Spanish port system. Santana conveyed these conclusions during an information breakfast organized by Nueva Economía Fórum in Madrid, where he was introduced by the general secretary of Air and Maritime Transport, Benito Núñez.
The head of the governing body of Spanish ports has reported that preliminary studies from the EU-ETS Observatory, prepared from data collected in December of last year, have detected an "unusual" increase in maritime traffic at ports in third countries close to the EU, such as the United Kingdom, Morocco, Egypt, Israel, and Turkey. "We wanted to analyze whether this increase in traffic was due to economic growth in those geographical areas, but we did not detect a huge variation. Therefore, this makes us think that these are consequences of the ETS," Santana admitted.
The analysis has ruled out that these increases are due to greater economic activity in those countries, reduced operational costs, or problems of congestion in European ports. Preliminary conclusions suggest that the levy on CO₂ emissions from ships is generating a relocation of both strategic routes and investments in port infrastructures outside the community borders.
"When a decision is made to invest in a third country, reversing it in the long term is already complex. And this, in the end, means a decrease in our maritime connectivity," Santana lamented, who estimated the total amount of investments that the administrations of third countries will accumulate between 2021 and 2029 in their port infrastructures at 7 billion euros, "which will facilitate their management capacity to be around 40 million TEUs." The president pointed out that this situation translates into "a loss of logistical sovereignty" for the EU.
In the case of Spain, the impact is particularly sensitive as it is the first country in the European Union in maritime connectivity, a position that allows companies to export without needing to pass through other ports or incur intermediate transit costs that do not add value to the logistics chain. Santana has indicated that he has already alerted the Ministry of Transport to monitor these negative effects.
Morocco as a strategic competitor
Everything points to the fact that next week it will be confirmed in Brussels that the emissions trading system has had a real impact on Spanish maritime connectivity in favor of competitors such as Tangier Med, Nador, Casablanca, and Dajla, in Morocco, or Damietta, in Egypt, whose new terminal is being partially financed with European public funds: 50% of the 455 million dollars that this infrastructure costs comes from community capital.
"Morocco has decided to focus on four ports for its logistical opening to become the gateway to Africa. It is a country strategy," Santana stated, who contrasted these countries' regulatory agility against European timelines. "We have an environmental framework at the European level that requires a series of studies that slow down projects that need to be executed in infrastructure for years, and that does not happen in Morocco, where all those procedures can be resolved in a year," he argued.
The president of Ports of the State has acknowledged the need to maintain European environmental and tax controls, but has demanded greater speed in the processes. "We are in a globalized business, we have norms and we have to adopt them, but the world continues to move at a different speed. Decisions are often not made due to the operational efficiency of the ports, but due to political decisions," he added.
Likewise, the EU-ETS Observatory aims to analyze the loss of short sea shipping in Spanish ports as a consequence of emissions trading, although Santana has clarified that there are no concrete data that allow concluding a direct relationship. "We suspect this has happened because there are certain established shipping lines that have reduced quotas and navigation frequencies, but this point is one of the objects of the study," he specified.
Investor plan of 7 billion until 2029
Santana has also detailed the port investment plan of 7 billion euros announced by the Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, Óscar Puente. The largest portion, 4.5 billion euros—64.3% of the budget—, will be allocated to improvements in port infrastructures, with actions spread throughout the system, although with a greater focus on the port authorities of Valencia, Barcelona, and Algeciras.
A second package of 1 billion will focus on sustainability and decarbonization of maritime transport, with the electrification of docks as the central axis. "Electricity consumption is expected to quintuple, and that's why the work being done hand in hand with suppliers is essential," Santana explained, who added that coordination with the CNMC and port authorities is underway to manage this increase in energy demand.
The third major investment block centers on improving road and rail access to the ports. Santana has set the goal that rail transport represents 10% of land transport of goods. "It is an ambitious challenge, we want to achieve it and we are working towards that," he pointed out.
Regarding the multiplier effect of public investments, Santana stated that the goal is for each euro of public investment to generate two euros of private financing. "When we make an investment, we currently consider a ratio of one euro of private investment for every euro of public investment. We are a public-private model and we live off the fees," he explained.
Port traffic and geopolitical context
The president of Ports of the State has attributed the 0.2% decline in port traffic recorded in 2025 to the decrease in solid bulk, with a 10% reduction in coal bulk—due to environmental reasons—and a 20% reduction in cereal bulk, driven by good national harvests and a lower need for grain imports for the livestock sector.
With 556 million tons moved, the figure is below the historical record of 2019. Nevertheless, Santana has highlighted positive data such as the increase of general cargo to 280 million tons, the growth of container traffic in exports and imports, and the 42 million passengers managed, of which 28 million corresponded to regular traffic.
Santana has also referred to the intensity of the geopolitical events of recent years—the invasion of Ukraine, the diversion of routes through the Red Sea, and the tariff crisis with the United States—and has indicated that these have greatly transformed navigation and port traffic. For Spanish ports, he acknowledged negative effects such as longer navigations and higher operational costs, but also positive ones, such as the fact that the Canary ports have become the main beneficiaries of diversions of commercial routes through the Cape of Good Hope.
To analyze these changes, Ports of the State has created the Office of Port Interest Studies.
Civil-military mobility and port management
Santana has also referred to civil-military mobility, assuring that ports will contribute to that area and that projects are already being developed by the Ministry of Defense focused on responding to NATO's needs, the European defense strategy, and the strategy of the Ministry of Transport itself. "We are collaborating and having periodic meetings with the Ministry of Defense and with the security part of our Ministry, where we are given this information and we ask the different port authorities to assess those investments," he indicated.
When questioned about a possible transfer of port management to the autonomous communities, Santana ruled it out, arguing that state ports, being of general interest and critical infrastructures, must remain under state management. Regarding energy sovereignty projects, he indicated that Spain is in "a good position" to lead alternative fuels, including green hydrogen.
Regarding community negotiation in port matters, the president alluded to the difficulty of gathering wills among the 27 member states and emphasized the importance of seeking strategic allies. "When there is something of interest for the outermost regions, for example, our natural allies are Portugal and France," he clarified.