The president of the Port Authority of the Bay of Algeciras (APBA), Gerardo Landaluce, participated yesterday in Madrid in the roundtable on green and innovative ports held during the seminar of the Port Cooperation Forum of the Maritime Silk Road, a meeting organized by Zhejiang Seaport Group, which was attended by the ambassador of the People's Republic of China in Spain, Yao Jing, and Zhu Miao, general director of Zhejiang Seaport Group and Ningbo Zhoushan Port Group.
During his speech, Landaluce presented the advances of the Port of Algeciras in terms of decarbonization and detailed the figures that place the Algeciras infrastructure among the world leaders in supplying Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) to ships. In 2025, the Port of Algeciras supplied 333,000 cubic meters of LNG, a figure that multiplies the records achieved in the previous year and confirms the consolidation of the Bay of Algeciras as a reference point for the bunkering of transition fuels in the western Mediterranean.
These results are part of the Green Energy Hub initiative, a program whose objective, as Landaluce explained, is "to support and promote the initiatives of companies wishing to establish themselves in the Bay of Algeciras to develop synthetic fuels and supply transition fuels." The president of the APBA noted that the port's goal is to maintain maximum operational efficiency, a quality that has been recognized year after year by the World Bank and has allowed a 10% reduction in the carbon footprint of port operations.
Landaluce also reported on the investment of 92 million euros allocated to OPS (Onshore Power Supply) projects for the electrification of the docks in Algeciras and Tarifa. This action, which will allow ships to connect to the land electrical grid during their stay in port and thus reduce emissions generated by auxiliary engines, is part of the process of adapting port infrastructure to the environmental requirements set by European regulations.
The participation of the Port of Algeciras in this forum has a top commercial context. The Chinese market represents 20% of the container traffic that passes through the Bay of Algeciras, making China one of the most relevant trading partners for the Cádiz infrastructure. The relationship between the Port of Algeciras and Ningbo Zhoushan has been particularly close since 2018, when both institutions signed a collaboration agreement at the Palace of La Moncloa in the presence of the presidents of China and Spain. That memorandum was formalized within the framework of the ten commercial agreements signed during President Xi Jinping's visit to Spain and formalized cooperation between the two ports with the aim of consolidating the maritime bridge between China and southern Europe, having the Bay of Algeciras and the Port of Ningbo Zhoushan as global logistics nodes for this link.
The Port of Ningbo Zhoushan, managed by Zhejiang Seaport Group, is one of the largest in the world in total cargo volume handled and maintains regular connections with major ports in the Mediterranean. The presence of its management team in Madrid, led by its general director Zhu Miao, demonstrates the Chinese group's interest in continuing to develop its commercial relationships with Spanish ports. The intervention of Ambassador Yao Jing at the inaugural session of the seminar gave the meeting an institutional character that underscores the importance both countries place on cooperation in the port and logistics sector.
Precisely this week, a delegation from the Port of Ningbo will visit the facilities of the Port of Algeciras, an occasion that the APBA will take advantage of to showcase on the ground the projects and operational capabilities that Landaluce presented yesterday in Madrid. This visit takes place at a time when trade flows between China and Europe are subject to reconfiguration resulting from changes in global supply chains, a context in which the ports of the Strait of Gibraltar play a strategic role as a connection point between transoceanic maritime routes and European distribution networks.
The geographical position of the Port of Algeciras, at the confluence of the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, and its capacity to operate as a container transshipment hub make it a key link for shipping companies that connect Chinese ports with European markets. The combination of this logistical advantage with advances in sustainability and the focus on transition fuels forms a proposal that the APBA seeks to project to operators and shippers in the Asian market.
The seminar of the Maritime Silk Road Forum also brought together the president of the Port Authority of Valencia, Mar Chao, and the deputy general director of Port de Barcelona, Santiago García-Milà, along with Pedro García Navarro, director of Ports State Operations, and Tomás Azcárate Díaz de Losada, president of Marinas de España, in a program that included commercial promotion sessions of Chinese ports and a roundtable moderated by Julio Nan, president of the Spanish Association of Overseas Chinese.