SITL show in Paris

The Aquitaine-Euskadi Logistics Platform (PLAE) participated as exhibitor in the International Transport and Logistics Show SITL held in Paris from 12 to 14 March 2008, in representation of Basque-Aquitaine infrastructures.

At the show the PLAE had a stand measuring 120 square metres in which to present the different maritime, air, rail and land infrastructures of Euskadi and Aquitaine. It also took advantage of the occasion to offer a presentation with the participation of representatives from both cross-border governments. This presentation was presided by Nuria López de Guereñu, Regional Minister for Transport and Public Works of the Basque Government, who was accompanied by Daniel Province, Head of Transport and Infrastructures of the

Regional Council of Aquitaine (CRA) and Virginia Gil, Director of the PLAE.

The regional minister of the Basque government began the presentation by thanking the members of PLAE for attending, since they are the ones who are at the base of the platform and define its activities. A platform created as the result of the political will to promote cross-border cooperation between Euskadi and Aquitaine.

Furthermore, she said that “We participate in SITL because we have seen that it gives us the opportunity of learning about the most advanced and modern initiatives in the logistics and transport sectors. This is an event in which we know we will find the latest technological developments and new developments in information and management applied to different types of transport, including rail, inland waterways, road and maritime”.

She also referred to the cooperation between Euskadi and Aquitaine. “We are neighbours and we are strategically located in the centre of the European Atlantic axis, we are a natural area of transit for traffic between European markets and the Iberian Peninsula. In addition, we have common problems. The transport system mainly based on roads is no longer sustainable and urgent solutions are needed.”

She thus pointed out that “our objective is to work together with Aquitaine, to analyse transport and mobility in an intelligent manner, on the basis of sustainability and intermodality, and to support railway transport with the construction of the Basque “Y” and its future connection with the French rail network.”

Daniel Province shared this opinion and added that to achieve this goal “we have infrastructures with great potential, such as the ports of the Basque Country and Aquitaine, in addition to the multimodal logistics, rail and air platforms.”

The members of the PLAE also had the opportunity of expressing their point of view. Amaia Sarasola, in representation of the Port of Bilbao, briefly summarised the Port’s most significant annual data. She highlighted that for the first time ever more than 40 million tonnes were handled, entailing an increase of nearly 4% in respect to 2006.

She also stated that in September 2007 they had inaugurated a Short Sea Shipping route that linked Bilbao to Zeebrugge three times per week. In respect to long distance traffic she highlighted the expansion of Asian markets such as China, which had increased by 9%. Finally, as a novelty, she mentioned the contracting and beginning of works on the   new pier for freight and rolling cargo attached to the Zierbena dock.

Source: Transportweekly