• Mar Chao, president of the Port Authority of València (PAV), presented to a delegation from Lower Saxony led by its Prime Minister, Stephan Weil, the value proposition and competitive advantages of Valenciaport: “ our priority is the import/export, our objective is to increase the competitiveness of our clients through the efficient and sustainable provision of logistics and transport services”
• After the working meeting, the delegation of representatives from Lower Saxony toured the Port of Valencia and got to know how it works, taking particular interest in the hydrogen technology initiatives being developed by Valenciaport

 A delegation from Lower Saxony, headed by its Prime Minister, Stephan Weil, has held a meeting with the President of the Port Authority of València, Mar Chao, in the boardroom of the Clock Building. This working meeting was also attended by German businessmen, various officials from the German Chancellery, members of the Chamber of Commerce of Lower Saxony, staff from the German Embassy in Spain, members of local parliamentary groups, the general manager of Hannover Airport and the chairman of the Board of Directors of the Deutsche Messe trade fair, among other institutional and business representatives.

After welcoming them, the president of the PAV explained to them how Valenciaport’s logistics-port infrastructures work: “our priority is the import/export, our objective is to increase the competitiveness of our clients through the efficient and sustainable provision of logistics and transport services”.

The members of the German delegation were interested in learning about the evolution of the hydrogen projects, the operational functioning of the terminals and how Valenciaport has responded to the new management needs arising from the Red Sea crisis, among other issues. Both parties have put on the table the idea of establishing new possibilities for collaboration, taking into account the hub port nature of the Valencian precinct.

After learning about the commitment being made by Valenciaport to carry out Zero Emissions management in the 2030 Horizon and exchanging gifts (Mar Chao presented the German politician with a traditional Valencian socarrat, while Stephan Weil presented a typical German glass figure), the delegation from Lower Saxony visited the Port of València’s facilities. After a first stop at the southern end of the port, they visited the facilities of the hydrogen plant of the Port of València, a pioneering installation in a European port area which uses hydrogen technologies to reduce the environmental impact. In this sense, the German representatives have shown their interest in establishing channels of cooperation with the Port Authority of València (APV) in the development of hydrogen. For its Prime Minister, Stephan Weil, “the Port of València is a perfect platform for collaborating with German industry, given that it can be a gateway for green hydrogen. A fuel that is emerging as an alternative to oil and fossil fuel derivatives”.

Valenciaport is committed to the fight against climate change and decarbonisation through a strategy that includes different actions. Hydrogen is one of the lines of work being carried out by the Valencian precinct, which has been recognised by the Spanish Government as a benchmark within the framework of the ‘Hydrogen Roadmap’. In fact, the PAV is participating in various international projects such as H2Ports, which includes the hydrogen generator, the Reach Stacker (container stacker that will be powered by this energy) that is being tested at MSC Terminal Valencia, and the conventional 4×4 tractor unit that is being tested in the loading and unloading operations at Valencia Terminal Europa of the Grimaldi Group. The region of Lower Saxony is the fourth largest importing and exporting state in Germany (according to Valencia Chamber of Commerce) with an important weight of the automotive sector, as Volkswagen has its main plant in the city of Wolfsburg, in addition to others in Braunschwig, Hannover and Salzgitter (where the subsidiary PowerCo builds the reference battery cell factory for the one in Sagunt). The food industry is the second most important production sector in this region, which is also a benchmark in wind energy and biomass production in Germany.