A delegation from the Port of Vigo, headed by the director of the Port Authority, Leandro Melgar; the president of the Shipowners’ Cooperative, Javier Touza; the head of Operations for the shipping company Suardiaz in Vigo, Antonio Rivas; and representatives of the sector traveled to the United Kingdom with the aim of attracting new movements of fishing cargo through the terminal.
During their stay in the UK, the Vigo delegation will visit the maritime facilities of Liverpool, Peterhead, Fraserburgh, Aberdeen and Grimsby to strengthen existing ties and establish new alliances.
The first destination of the Vigo delegation was Liverpool, where they held a meeting with representatives of the business group Peel Ports, which is part of Peel Ports Group, the second largest port operator in the United Kingdom, which manages ports such as Liverpool, Clydeport (Glasgow, Greenock, Ardrossan, Hunterston), Dublin, Great Yarmouth, Heysham, London Medway and Manchester, among others.
As the most relevant point of the meeting, in which they were received by John Hasset, deputy manager at Peel Ports, and Gareth Davies, director, the opportunity to generate synergies was discussed, taking advantage of the opportunity presented by the Motorway of the Sea that currently exists between Vigo and Liverpool, a frequent Ro-Ro transport route for the company Suardiaz.
Since October 2023, Suardiaz has been supplying 86% of the components for the annual production of over 50,000 light commercial vehicles for the Stellantis plant in Ellesmere Port, UK, for the Citroën, Peugeot, Opel and Vauxhall brands, in their electric versions. The idea is to utilize the return voyage of the vessels to transport fresh fish, thus optimizing efficiency and sustainability, by reducing the carbon footprint, which is achieved by shifting transport from road to sea and opening a new route for the arrival of fish from the UK to Vigo.
The delegation also traveled to Scotland, where they visited the ports of Peterhead and Fraserburgh, terminals of great interest due to their unloadings of pelagic fish, crustaceans and white fish, in addition to holding several meetings with local companies and associations.
In Fraserburgh, they met with the Scottish White Fish Producers Association (SWFPA), the main association in the white fish sector in Scotland, and the Scottish Pelagic Fishermen’s Association (SPFA), one of the eight associations that make up the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation (SFF), which represents 22 vessels based in Fraserburgh, Peterhead and Shetland.
At the Port of Aberdeen, the oldest company in the UK with almost 900 years of history, the group had the opportunity to learn more about the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation (SFF), which brings together eight regional associations representing over 450 fishing vessels, from small coastal boats to large trawlers, encompassing fishermen dedicated to the main categories of the sector: white fish, pelagic and shellfish.
Additionally, they will visit the Port of Grimsby on the east coast of England, a hub for the maritime industry in general and which has a large fish and seafood processing center.
