The president of the Bilbao Port Authority, Iván Jiménez, has advocated for moving towards the energy self-sufficiency of ports.
In an interview with British media, Jiménez defended the need for “ports to remain competitive and, at the same time, meet the climate objectives set by Europe.”
It is worth remembering that the European maritime emissions trading system will come into force in 2026, from which point ships will have to pay for 100% of their emissions. Likewise, he pointed out that “the United Kingdom, the main market of the Port of Bilbao, will also include maritime transport in its own emissions trading system that same year, putting an end to route deviations to avoid carbon costs.”
In this context, Bilbao is taking “important steps to close the carbon gap” and “electrify itself so as not to be left behind.” Thus, its container, Ro-Ro traffic, ferry and cruise ship docks will be electrified by 2027, three years earlier than required by the European Union. Through the BilbOPS project “the Port of Bilbao will reduce its emissions by 40%, doubling its electrical capacity and installing 11 onshore power points.”
For the president of the Port Authority, “the main challenge throughout Europe is not technology, but guaranteeing investment and the supply of renewable energy.” To this end, the Port of Bilbao has made an investment of 74.9 million euros in the BilbOPS project to become the first AFIR Ready port on the Atlantic. This initiative is partially financed by the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism and by the Connecting Europe Mechanism (CEF Funds), and the remainder by the Bilbao Port Authority’s own funds. It should be noted that an 80 million loan has been signed with the European Investment Bank (EIB), and part of it will be allocated to its financing.
Iván Jiménez highlighted the role played by public-private collaboration as a key factor for “ports to lead the change towards cleaner maritime transport, while supporting local industry.”
In this process, the Port of Bilbao is transitioning from being a traditional oil and gas port to becoming a renewable energy hub with the help of public-private financing.
“We have an LNG facility, in 2025 Europe’s first pilot bio-LNG project will be launched, and the production of green hydrogen and e-fuels is being developed. All this with the aim of becoming a competitive and sustainable port at the service of our customers,” he stated.
