Over 600 participants attended the online Seminar on Exponential Ports

During four days, a select panel of experts met to analyse the ecosystem of the port community in Ibero-America in the online Seminar on Exponential Ports, which was attended by more than 650 people and convened by the Latin American and Caribbean Economic System (SELA), CAF-development bank of Latin America, the National Port Authority (APN) of Peru, the Port Authority of Santander, Spain, and the company Next-Port.ai.

On the first working day, Manuel Martínez de Ubago Álvarez de Sotomayor, Head of Strategy and Business Development of Smart Ports at Next-Port.ai, spoke on the physical Internet and its influence on ports; he was followed by María Román del Molino, Head of Operations and Port Community Services of the Port Authority of Algeciras Bay, who spoke on Digital Port Systems for Operational Excellence.

On the second day, Guillermo Massot Cristino, Managing Partner – Althium; Laura Rodríguez-Romo, Specialist in automation and digitalisation; and Cristina Izquierdo Pérez, Head of Business Development Internet of Things and 5G at Vodafone Spain; made presentations about digital transformation, terminal automation, and ecosystems.

During the third day of the Seminar, Antonio Tomás Sampedro, Senior Technologist of the Hydrodynamics and Coastal Infrastructures Group of the Environmental Hydraulics Institute at the University of Cantabria; and Mauricio Franco, responsible for the emulation product at Moffatt & Nichol, spoke about the techniques for the management of port infrastructures.

And on the fourth day, artificial intelligence applied to ports, 5.0 environmental management for ports and the impact of 4.0 technologies on port processes were the topics addressed by Christian Manrique Valdor, Head of Infrastructure and Public Domain at the Port Authority of Santander; Óscar Pernía Fernández, Founding Partner of Next-Port.ai; and Mariela Gutarra Ramos, Leader of Digital Government at the National Port Authority of Peru.

“The objective of raising awareness and understanding the capacity of technology has been fulfilled in these four sessions, which have been attended by 550 to 650 people connected simultaneously, with participants from more than 30 countries around the world, in addition to the Member States of SELA,” said José Miguel Rovira, Coordinator of Economic Recovery of the Latin American and Caribbean Economic System, who added that “the economic development of Latin America requires efficient supply chains, supported by new infrastructure,” where the automation of ports plays a fundamental role.

The online Seminar on Exponential Ports is an activity of SELA's multi-year Work Programme, which aims to advance in strengthening initiatives for the economic recovery of the region, in which ports and their logistics chains play a fundamental role for sustainable development.