• The conference, which took place in the emblematic Clock Building, was organised by those in charge of the UNCTAD  Train For Trade programme
• Within the framework of the Conference, the seven ports which form part of the Train For Trade programme  proposed a new system for measuring port performance which includes indicators relating to Sustainability and Resilience
• By way of example, the first report evaluating the implementation in Valenciaport of the new proposed indicators including compliance with the Sustainable Development Goals  has been presented.
• According to Mark Asaff, Head of HR Development of the Train for Trade programme, in 20 years of work, much has been achieved, “we now have indicators to monitor comparatively how governance and port performance is improving”
• The meeting also served to update the content of the Train for Trade programme

 Those responsible for the UNCTAD Train For Trade programme have organised in collaboration with Valenciaport and the Valenciaport Foundation their annual Port Management Conference. Fifty representatives of the ports responsible for delivering the Train For Trade training programme met to update content and present the new port performance measurement system, which includes new indicators relating to Sustainability and Resilience.

By way of example, the first report evaluating the implementation in Valenciaport of the new proposed indicators that include compliance with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) was presented. The data in this report has been obtained through the monitoring of a series of indicators introduced in the digital tool Port Management Series used by UNCTAD to monitor the Port Performance Indicators and which includes indicators of Human Resources, Financial, Vessel Operations, Resilience, Cargo Operations, Governance and Sustainability.

After the presentation of the report, Mark Asaff, Head of Human Resources Development of the Train for Trade programme, pointed out that “since the first conference organised by UNCTAD in Manila, we have achieved a lot and now we have indicators to monitor comparatively how port governance and performance is improving”. Along the same lines, Asaff added: “more than 20 years working in three languages to improve individual and institutional capacity building. A work with which we have greatly improved connectivity between UNCTAD and port institutions around the world”.

The latest trends in port traffic management and the results and statistics of Train For Trade’s three language networks (Spanish, French and English) were also evaluated during the conference. In parallel, the challenges and trends of the maritime, port and logistics industry were discussed, addressing the challenges of open innovation and the role of start-ups and ports in innovation.

This event, which was held in the Clock Building, is a preliminary step to the first edition of the World Congress on Port Entrepreneurship that the City of Arts and Sciences is hosting today as part of the València Digital Summit event.

Train For Trade Programme

The Train For Trade programme, which has been running for nearly ten years, aims to help port communities in Latin American countries (in Spanish), in French-speaking countries (in French) and in most Commonwealth countries (in English) to improve the skills of their middle management. Since its inception, hundreds of port professionals have received the training provided.

The Port Authority of València (PAV) is one of the seven ports associated with this programme, together with the Ghen Port Company of Belgium, the Port Authority of Gijón, the Port Autonome de Marseille and the Port Autonome de Dunkerque in France, the Dublin Port Company of Ireland and the Administraçao dos Portos do Douro e Leixoes of Portugal.

Collaboration with UNCTAD

The PAV has been collaborating with the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in these port training programmes since 2001. Moreover, since 2007, it has been one of the seven ports associated with the Train for Trade programme thanks to the signing of a collaboration agreement.

Thus, Valenciaport trains Spanish-speaking port workers within the framework of the Train for Trade programme and carries out actions such as technical assistance missions to Latin American countries and the holding of seminars in Valencia and Gijón (also a Spanish-speaking partner port). The study material is regularly updated by UNCTAD with the collaboration of port experts from the Port Authorities of Valencia and Gijón and the Valenciaport Foundation and consists of manuals, videos, evaluations, individual and group exercises which are available on the Train For Trade distance learning platform.