The Valencia Port Authority (VPA) is the body responsible for the management and administration of three state-owned ports located along an 80 kilometre stretch of the eastern edge of the Spanish Mediterranean: Sagunto, Valencia and Gandía.

The ports managed by the VPA occupy a privileged geo-strategic location at the centre of the western Mediterranean coast on the east-west corridor crossing the Suez Canal and the Straits of Gibraltar; a factor which establishes Valencia as the first and last port of call for leading shipping companies running regular lines between America, the Mediterranean Basin and the Far East. For this reason, they constitute the best and most efficient option for rendering services to maritime trade in the South of the European Union with over 140 regular lines (operated by leading international shipping companies) connecting the port to over 850 ports throughout the five continents.

The hinterland of the Port of Valencia has a radius of 350km and serves 55% of GDP and half the active population of Spain. Its proximity to the Spanish capital, as well as excellent road and rail connections and state of the art port infrastructure which is specialised in handling all types of traffic, make it the ideal port to render services to Madrid and the centre of Spain and one of the essential platforms for other economic regions of Spain such as Castilla la Mancha, Aragón, Murcia and Western Andalucia.

Similarly, the Port of Valencia, as a hub port of the Western Mediterranean, can distribute cargo efficiently throughout a 2000km radius, not only to countries in the south of the European Union, but also to North African countries (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya) with an immense market of 243 million consumers.

For all the above reasons, the Port of Valencia is the leading Mediterranean port in cargo handling, essentially containerised goods, and is a key element in the international reach of the Valencia Community, as well as a maritime gateway for production and consumption throughout the Iberian Peninsula.

This leadership is based on a management approach which is constantly geared towards innovation in the diverse fields of information technologies and service quality, in so far as the aforementioned are compatible with environmental care and respect.

For many years now, the Valencia Port Authority has been committed to achieving a balance between commercial and economic growth and environmental protection that will lead to sustainable development. One result of these initiatives was the creation of its Environmental Policy, approved on 12 April 2000 and revised by the Board of Directors on 12 January 2006.  The Policy details environmental principles on a general level and those required for improving the port area. These in turn condition the different lines of action taken by the port in the form of environmental actions and/or initiatives.

This commitment to sustainable development in port activity makes it necessary to consider criteria for economic, social and environmental development. The VPA has integrated its environmental actions into its Strategic Plan in order to fulfil the requirements of its environmental policy. The aim of the Plan is to ‘Encourage international competitiveness in economic and social affairs within its area of influence by offering competitive prices and quality in infrastructure as well as port, maritime, intermodal and logistics services, which is in line with European transport policy and social requirements’.

In order to achieve this objective, the challenges established in the VPA’s strategy consider 4 basic axes: competitiveness in port services, marketing and logistics development, infrastructure and accessibility planning, and the integration of environmental actions and Corporate Social Responsibility. In relation to this last point, the integration of environmental considerations into the VPA’s corporate strategy means social considerations or the interests of society in general and all parties concerned are taken on board as essential, without ignoring the environment and current legislation. Based on these aspects, VPA strategy is implemented in order to fulfil business objectives which in turn seek to satisfy both port businesses and potential clients while incorporating environmental considerations in order to achieve the policy objectives.

The VPA devotes considerable effort and resources to fulfilling these objectives by designing tools for controlling and monitoring environmental quality (e.g. air quality, acoustic quality, water quality, etc.) and by establishing methodologies that will encourage companies to remain committed to environmentally respectful activities (e.g. Environmental Management Systems). Efforts are also made to identify the training, communication and awareness needs of port users and society in general, which are then fulfilled through specific actions (e.g. annual environmental reports, training, etc.).

The Cyclical nature of Environmental Integration in the VPA

One outcome of this commitment has been achieving various environmental certificates such as the Port Environmental Review System (PERS) in 2003, certification of the EN ISO 14001-2004 standard at the beginning of 2006, and certification and validation of the EMAS II Regulation at the beginning of 2007, which are among the most prestigious certificates in Europe.