Located at the crossroads between the Mediterranean and Atlantic Oceans, in the shadow of the imposing limestone monolith of the Rock of Gibraltar, the Port of Gibraltar is a crucial service and supply point for vessels transiting the nearby Straits of Gibraltar. Gibraltar’s Minister for Business and Tourism, Vijay Daryanani, spoke to Richard Hagan about the critical role fulfilled by the Gibraltar Port Authority and its exciting plans for the future of the bustling harbour.
PORT
Locatedprominently at the entrance to the Mediterranean, the Port of Gibraltar is an important refuelling and resupply point for vessels heading towards both the Atlantic and Mediterranean seas.
According to Gibraltar’s Minister for Business and Tourism, Vijay Daryanani, the Port’s strategic prominence has ensured that the port has continued to play a vital role in the maritime industry.
“Our location has made Gibraltar into the maritime centre for excellence. From our position at the intersection of the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, we provide a whole range of services to vessels of all types and sizes, with a total of 240 million tonnes worth of vessels calling at the port each year.”
An international shipping hub
The Port of Gibraltar is managed and developed by the Gibraltar Port Authority and its 50 specialist staff members. The Port Authority itself was established in 2005 by the Gibraltar Port Authority Act, in terms of which some of the Government of Gibraltar’s responsibilities were transferred to the Port Authority, which has thoroughly risen to the occasion of running the port.
“The Port Authority was established in order to improve the professionalism of the port’s service delivery,” the minister confirmed. “We’ve really managed to become top players in this aspect of our operations.”
The Port Authority has worked tirelessly to ensure that the Port of Gibraltar remains a key stopover for the approximately
60,000 vessels transiting the Strait. Its efforts certainly seem to be bearing fruit.
“The port has developed into the largest bunkering port in the Mediterranean,” Mr Daryanani revealed. “With the airport only a few minutes from the harbour, and with its daily flights to various destinations in the UK, crew changes have become big business for us. Additionally, our connectivity has encouraged many agents for spare parts and provisions to establish themselves within the port.”
The port’s bunkering operations received an important boost in 2020 when the Port Authority issued it with its first alterna tive bunkering license for LNG. “We want to be at the forefront of alternative fuelling,” Mr Daryanani commented. “We’re working on this project in collaboration with major international producers namely Shell.”
Cruising into the port
The cruise ship industry is a substantial partner in the port’s success, and here, according to Mr Daryanani, the port’s polit ical context is a crucial magnet for that industry.
“Gibraltar is the jewel in the Mediterranean in the context of the cruising industry, with over 200 cruise ships visiting us per year. The fact that we are British is a major highlight for them and con sequently, we enjoy very good business from the cruise industry.”
Superyachts are increasingly also visiting the port just before or after crossing the Atlantic, between the seasonal Caribbean and Mediterranean cruising grounds. In fact, the port has
become so popular for superyachts that the Port Authority is actively developing plans to better accommodate them.
“Sometimes we have to turn yachts away due to a lack of space,” he noted. “We’re looking at adding additional berthing spaces for superyachts because we have a real increase in yachts visiting us.”
Rock solid marketing campaigns
Despite the port’s enviable location, the Port Authority isn’t allowing itself to be complacent. As Mr Daryanani explained, its teams are constantly hard at work ensuring that its stakeholder relationships remain a priority, beginning with the cruise industry.
“We’re energetically marketing Gibraltar within the cruise industry in a massive way,” he said. “We’re going out from Gibraltar, leaving our comfortable offices to meet people face to face, to sit down and talk and tell them that they’re very important to us. We’re going to be promoting the port within the cruising sector with a par ticular focus on our plans to provide shore power, which is some thing they’ve been asking for. We have met with them at several conferences and we’ve got solid plans for further engagements.”
The port’s flourishing bunkering trade is also an ongoing area of focus for the Port Authority, with its introduction of the first LNG bunkering license a visible sign of its efforts on this front.
“Our main business is bunkering,” he confirmed. “In comparing figures, in 2021 our bunkering numbers were up by 5.81% com pared to 2019, so bunkering profitability has improved and we hope to develop the new LNG operation in a similar manner.
“Gibraltar is very well-known anyway bu t it’s important for us to keep networking, ensuring that people talk to us about the latest
developments in their industries and to exchange ideas,” he con tinued. “We’re constantly working with our stakeholders locally and internationally to see what they want from us, and to find out what we aren’t doing properly or where we need to improve. The world is big and competitive and you have to give it your best shot at all times.”
As part of its marketing efforts, the minister revealed plans to launch Gibraltar Maritime Day as a way to further promote the port. The campaign is envisioned to begin in London and then move on to other maritime jurisdictions. Furthermore, in June 2023, the third Gibraltar Maritime Week will take place following the previous one that was held in November 2021. Happily, that one was a huge success despite the pandemic’s various travel and movement restrictions.
Harbouring long-term plans
In early 2022, the Port of Gibraltar announced plans to embark on a major sustainability drive. Efforts in this regard are aimed at ensuring both its own sustainability as a business, long into the future, but also in moving the port’s operations into more environmentally friendly solutions.
“We’re looking at all sorts of solutions. Our target is net zero emissions by 2050, but that’s coming soon and we need to get moving on it,” noted the minister.
The programme is still at an early stage, with various projects being reviewed for possible implementation as part of the port’s sustainability efforts. Costs are a key consideration and so the port’s overriding concern is ensuring that it opts for futureproofed solutions.
“These projects are very expensive so sometimes it’s better to wait a little rather than rush into it,” confirmed Mr Daryanani. “We’re talking to various people with a lot of experience in these fields and we expect to be in a position to make certain announcements about it in 2023.”
Altogether, the minister was buoyant about the port’s present position and its future prospects.
“I’m proud to say that we haven’t suffered due to the pandemic; we’ve been open and doing business. Our revenue remained the same and we even enjoyed increased ship visits, so that’s been excellent. It makes me even more optimistic about our future. So for that reason, we’re aggressively marketing Gibraltar and we’ll carry on working to ensure that we can bring more clients here.
“For us to remain at the top, we need to show that we’re an evolving port and that we’re up to date with all relevant interna tional trends. I’m extremely optimistic.” n
