Barcelona. Cotraport director Juan Pozo tells Diario del Puerto that “we are in the process of making our clients aware that price is not the most important thing, but rather the good service offered by our partners.”
“We are working with rates very similar to those of 15 years ago and in the same period the cost of living has increased by around 32%”
The director of Cotraport believes that “a consensus is beginning to be noted among the road transport companies linked to the port of Barcelona on the need to increase rates to improve the conditions of our drivers and reverse the trend of loss of talent in the sector.” In this sense, Pozo assures that “before being a driver in the Port of Barcelona was a privilege and lately we have a hard time retaining drivers because they leave for other companies outside the port area that offer better conditions,” and adds that “until now we are working with rates very similar to those of 15 years ago and in the same period the cost of living has increased by around 32%.”
Beyond the rate increase, Cotraport also plans to unify the prices for radius 1 and radius 2 in 2025. Thus, there are currently rates for journeys of up to 15 kilometres and another for journeys of up to 40 kilometres and the intention of the cooperative of independent transporters is to integrate them all within a single rate to compensate for the hours of waiting in terminals and depots.
After a worrying start to the year as a result of the blockage of routes using the Suez Canal, the Port of Barcelona began to see an increase in traffic from March onwards, once the shipping companies reorganised their services. This has led the terminals to extreme situations, having to work above their capacity for many months.
Faced with this situation, Cotraport is asking those responsible for the Port Authority and the terminals for solutions to reduce waiting times, which increase the stress of drivers and reduce the number of daily trips they can make. In fact, Pozo comments that “there are weeks when we cannot offer service up to 72 hours in advance because we need more hours to carry out the same services and we do not have enough drivers.”
“Barcelona’s port environment has become too small”
The director of Cotraport says that “Barcelona’s port environment has become too small” and while he recognises that measures have already been taken, such as the approval of the new accesses to the south of the Port or the future transfer of all container activity to the southern dock of the Port, where the construction of a car park for trucks and related auxiliary services is planned. “These will not take effect until about 10 years from now,” says Pozo, who asks “what measures will be taken while we wait for these improvements?”, he concludes.
