Bilbao is key green shipping corridor hub

The ‘Green shipping corridors in and out of Spain; assessing route-based opportunities’ report, produced in tandem with the British Embassy in Madrid, has earmarked the Port of Bilbao as a key hub for such corridors, with routes to the UK in particular helping to significantly contribute to the decarbonisation of shipping.

“The development of green and digital shipping corridors is a priority for the Port of Bilbao, and fits in with the port’s growing portfolio of sustainability-related initiatives,” said Andima Ormaetxe, director of operations, commerce and logistics of the Port Authority of Bilbao.

“The decarbonisation of routes such as those presented in the report will have a major impact due to the volume of goods and passengers they carry and the huge potential for a shift from road to sea. For these reasons, we believe in the feasibility of decarbonising these shipping routes.”

The report emphasises the potential of short sea shipping routes for container traffic between Bilbao and Liverpool and for RoRo traffic with other ports in the UK.

It also highlights a further six promising routes from Spain, namely with the UK, Italy, US, Turkey, Morocco and China.

The development of green corridors represents a significant opportunity for the Spanish economy, says the report, as the country is well-positioned to become a first-mover nation due to clear advantages in the production and distribution of future bunker fuels, the presence of strong companies throughout the value chain, potential demand for decarbonised freight and the robust regulatory framework in place to support renewable energy.

The report specifically looked at the supply of green hydrogen and green ammonia as potential zero-emission fuels that might service these routes. According to the authors of ‘Green Corridors: The Spanish Opportunity’, an earlier report on which this latest builds, Spain has good prospects to be one of the cheapest green hydrogen production locations in the world and a hub for European production.