Chemicalcluster

ChemMed Tarragona has been present, for a second successive year, in the annual edition of the EPCA (European Petrochemical Association), an event of international relevance which is the meeting point par excellence of the chemical industry in Europe, for which the Port Tarragona is partner.

One of the main priorities in the context of this 4th annual meeting of the EPCA, coinciding with the recent presentation of the strategic plan of the cluster, it has been to project internationally the cluster ChemMed Tarragona, its potential and the advantages of investing in the territory.

The President of the Port of Tarragona and Vice president of ChemMed, Josep Andreu, the General Director of the Port of Tarragona and treasurer of ChemMed, Francesc Sánchez, the Commercial and Business Development Director, Genoveva Climent, and Eva Canal, responsible for Institutional Relations of AEQT have led the cluster representation in Berlin, in this important chemistry forum where they have held meetings and networking with chemical companies (production, storage, and transportation).

ChemMed Tarragona values the presence in these days of meetings in which it has been made contacts with different companies and it has been recognized the great interest in intermodal rail and the availability of European gauge, which reinforces the needs to have a real calendar in order to have operational the European gauge for the industry territory.

In these B2B meetings (business to business) it has been also promoted the expansion of the chemical quay of Port de Tarragona in front of the main management terminals companies, infrastructures that allow support such an important activity for the Port as is the movement of chemicals and petrochemicals products. At the same time, it has been given to know the logistic services, specialized infrastructure and new investments in the established meetings with key players of the worldwide chemical industry and companies of logistic field.

All with the aim of promoting contacts with the chemical industry and transport containers companies. The meetings have focused on highlighting the international projection of ChemMed Tarragona, present the service offer and new investments in strategic infrastructures, making known the new intermodal infrastructure and connections and services currently offered by the Port in the logistics railway with its hinterland.

This morning, the Shed 1 “Moll de la Costa”, in Port de Tarragona, has been the frame of the inauguration of TankBank 2015, one of the major international events in the petrochemical field and it has chosen Tarragona in order to hold its first meeting in the Mediterranean. Tony Quinn, CEO of TankBank International; Josep Andreu, president of the Port de Tarragona and Francesc Sánchez, general manager of the Port de Tarragona were in charge of welcoming the hundred attendees which are representatives of major companies in the storage industry, management of chemical and petrochemical terminals, European Ports and manufacturers of storage tanks.

In his speech, the president of the Port de Tarragona, and vice president of ChemMed, defended the strategic role that plays this territory on the international map and the possibilities it offers as an investment destination. Before him, the CEO of TankBank, Tony Quinn, has given the starting point for the conference and he wanted to stress the great potential of Tarragona, not only for its strategic location, also for the ability that the territory has in economic and development growth next to the powerful chemical industry and the Port de Tarragona. Moreover, among others, the director of Tepsa Spain, LLuis Sala and the Director of Operations of Repsol refinery in Tarragona, Baltasar, Boix have spoken this morning.

Before ending the morning conference the participants have made a sea tour by port facilities.

The Chemical Cluster of the Mediterranean has put full stop to the first day of TankBank in Tarragona in the Hipòlit sarcophagus room in Tower of Pretorio, which has hosted the presentation of this project that brings together the Chemical Industry, the Port de Tarragona and all the agents surrounding the sector in this territory. Its president, Jesus Loma-Ossorio, presented to the attendees the project in company of the vice president of ChemMed Tarragona, Josep Andreu.

President of AEQT and ChemMed explained that the cluster born just to anticipate the future, placing a value on the potential of Tarragona and to project this brand to the world in search of investments to consolidate the future of this industry in the territory. Loma took the opportunity to travel back in time to explain what role the petrochemical sector has played in the last half century in Tarragona and how now it makes a step forward into the specialties world.

This afternoon session was also attended by the Mayor of Tarragona, who wanted to receive the TankBank attendees in the same “Tower del Pretorio”. In his speech the mayor stressed the importance of the territory as an economic engine, pointing the chemical industry, the Port de Tarragona and other sectors such as knowledge and tourism. Josep Felix Ballesteros has placed the audience in the historic site where they were, recalling that Tarragona is a place not only of past and present also with future.

Within the framework of the International Logistics Exhibition (SIL), ChemMed Tarragona has organized this morning the 4th SIL CHEMICAL Conference, which has carried the title: “ChemMed Tarragona, common infrastructures and competitive services.”

After more than a year of international renown, the most important chemical cluster in Southern Europe, promoted by the Chemical Business Association of Tarragona (AEQT) and the Port de Tarragona, has returned to the SIL to expose his maturity as a cluster, and to value  that ChemMed Tarragona is the brand under which the synergies between Port and chemical industry have gathered for more than 40 years.

In this fourth edition of the SIL CHEMICAL have took part as speakers Jesus Loma-Ossorio, president of ChemMed Tarragona and AEQT; Josep Andreu, vice president of ChemMed Tarragona and president of Port de Tarragona; Marc Fargas, CEO of AITASA; Teresa Pallares, general manager of ChemMed Tarragona and AEQT; and Francesc Sánchez, ChemMed board member and CEO of the Port de Tarragona.

In his speech, the president of ChemMed Tarragona reviewed a year of international repercussion of the cluster, and has wanted to highlight the competitive advantages of the cluster and also that it makes the territory an interesting location for investment. Loma-Ossorio has emphasized the potential of the chemical industry of Tarragona, the great depth and specialization of port infrastructure, the specialization of services of the territory, the human capital and the 350 available hectares that the chemical industry and the port offer for new investments.

However, Loma-Ossorio has made a review of recent investments in Tarragona Chemical companies such as Dow Tarragona, Clariant, Kemira, Repsol and BASF.

In turn, the vice president of ChemMed Tarragona has stressed the importance of the presence of ChemMed in the SIL, one of the main logistics showcase in Southern Europe. And he has wanted to show that the Port de Tarragona is a partner that adds value to the chemical industry through competitive infrastructures, and he has given as example the  Logistics Activities Area of the Port of Tarragona. Andreu also took the stage of the event to name the three leading exponents of the needs of the chemical industry and the territory, the complaints of connection with the European width, the A27 and a better power management.

Marc Fargas, CEO of AITASA, explained to the audience about the competitiveness of shared services among different companies that make it up the AEQT and the Port de Tarragona, such as Rack Dixquímics (connecting companies with each other and with the Port) the “Emisario Submarino” (by connecting all companies at the same outfall and allowing greater management of spills) and the regenerating water station.

The presentation of Teresa Pallares has entitled “Efficiency of general services: Prevention Project on marine contingencies, fire station and health services”. The general manager of ChemMed Tarragona has valued the three chemical safety parks located in the northern polygon, polygon south and inside the port land, and the three parks give service to any of the companies that are around it.

Finally, Francesc Sánchez has made a radiograph of the chemical industry sector in the international area, and stressed the importance of ports as logistic platforms; and as now they should manage their efforts to become big  intermodal infrastructure in order to being export hubs to other countries.

In this sense, he highlighted the port infrastructures as for example the recently finalized extension of “muelle de la quimica” that puts on the market available hectares , while it gives competitiveness to companies that are already installed on the port providing a higher draught. He also wanted to emphasize the intermodal terminal in the Port de Tarragona, offering competitive customer service and it is an open intermodal services companies in the territory. And finally he emphasized the development of the area of logistics activities, which will operate in the near future.

The President of the Chemical Cluster in the Mediterranean, Jesús Loma-Ossorio, has presented this afternoon the project ChemMed Tarragona in the bosom of the ‘6th meeting of the Chemical Sector’, annually organized by FEIQUE and IESE Business School.

The also chairman of the Chemical Business Association of Tarragona (AEQT)  explained that ChemMed brings together industry, port and all the agents who surround him in a project of present and future. The Chemical Cluster, explained Loma, was born the last year as a response to the threats that market could see in the short, medium and long term. It was about, therefore, to put the focus point on an industry that bet for high value-added products. The President of ChemMed Tarragona explained that this cluster puts at the service of the investment the know-how and synergies created during the half-century that the history of chemical industry has  in the territory. Loma-Ossorio has referred to the economic benefits that  can assume a newcomer company, as it can concentrate all their economic efforts in the nucleus, in the business, taking advantage of all the infrastructure that is already built and, thus, saving, and in some cases, up to 50% of what  could mean be installed in a greenfield.

The explanation of Loma-Ossorio has been framed within the round table on the ‘promotion of industrial investment’, which has analyzed the processes of decision in enterprises, their ability to finance themselves and the own role of the clusters in obtaining new investments. This has been moderated by the Professor of IESE and academic director of this forum, Joan Roure.

The table has counted on exceptional speakers, as the CEO of BASF in the South of Europe, Erwin Rauhe, who has spoken about the decision proces in multinational companies; The Managing Director of the financial group Riva y García, Ignacio García-Nieto, which has conferred on obtaining funding;the Group Juste, Ines Juste ,President and CEO of Panreac and President of Fedequim, Joan Roget, who have offered their views about decision-making in SMEs.

Today, representatives of the ChemMed cluster presented ChemMed in France as well as in Germany. The two delegations highlighted Tarragona’s desire to continue leading the chemical sector in southern Europe and attracting investments related to the chemical industry.

Chemical Valley, France

This afternoon the president of ChemMed I and the chairman of the AEQT presented the Mediterranean chemical cluster, ChemMed Tarragona, in Lyon, France. Jesús Loma Ossorio gave a presentation within the framework of the conference sponsored by the “Agence d’urbanisme pour le développement de l’agglomération lyonnaise”, an organisation that promotes economic and regional development. In his speech, the president of the cluster outlined the competitive advantages of Tarragona’s chemical hub, the most important of its kind in southern Europe. Loma explained that the cluster is the result of the union of stakeholders related to the chemical sector in the region, led by the AEQT and the Port of Tarragona. After his corporate presentation, the director of Bayer MaterialScience for the Iberian Peninsula region spoke about urban development in Tarragona and its links with the chemical industry. Loma explained that Tarragona uses a collaborative model in which all parties are heard, which has created a harmonious relationship between the general public, the chemical industry and other stakeholders and the region’s business community.

After the ChemMed Tarragona speech, Werner Buch from the Frankfurt City Planning Office gave a presentation focusing on the balanced relationship between urban growth in his area and the different local business enterprises. Prior to these two speeches, the hosts also took their turns at the podium. Vincent Couturier and Lionel Arambourg briefly introduced the conference.

Couturier and Arambourg used the opportunity to present Lyon’s Chemical Valley to the members of ChemMed that same morning. During the trip, visitors had the chance to see the facilities of the IFP (the French Institute of Petroleum), which conducts research and educates professionals in the chemical sector and related fields. Attendees also learned about the size and scope of the chemical industry on the shores of Rhone River in the second largest metropolitan area in France.

Euroforum in Germany

That same morning, as the president was learning about the French project, the general director of the cluster, accompanied by Antoni Torà from BASF Española, was presenting the ChemMed project in Germany, at the Euroforum event in Cologne. In her speech, Pallarès underscored the main strengths the cluster used to create an ideal place for investment. The merging of forces, infrastructures and related services, and the wealth of talent in the region were among the points she brought to the debate table in Germany. The director of the cluster and of the AEQT emphasised the leading role of the chemical capital of southern Europe while explaining future projects to make Tarragona’s chemical hub even more competitive.

Pallarès gave the presentation along with Antoni Torà, the site services manager at BASF Española in Tarragona. The BASF representative who accompanied the cluster’s representative to Euroforum explained that BASF Tarragona had become a multi-company site. Torà stated that the site currently accommodates seven companies and that BASF provides different services to these as well as to other nearby companies. The German firm currently occupies 112 hectares in Tarragona, of which 20 are available for new investment.

BASF’s site services manager took advantage of the opportunity to announce the début of its new inter-modal terminal, which will provide rail service between Tarragona and the rest of Europe. The new system will have a capacity of eight trains per day and will operate 24 hours a day. The new station is the result of a joint venture between BASF and five companies in the logistics sector.

 At its headquarters in Tarragona today, the chemical cluster of the Mediterranean received a delegation from the Spanish Chemical Business Federation, known as FEIQUE, and from Invest in Spain, a national organisation that works to attract foreign investments to Spain. The three parties met for the purpose of creating synergies in policies for attracting investment, the primary mission of the Tarragona chemical cluster.

First of all, the general director of FEIQUE, Juan Antonio Lebat, gave an x-ray view of the chemical sector in Spain, in which he highlighted data showing an increase in job creation in 2014, its consolidation as the sector contributing the most to the country’s GDP and the fact that the chemical sector grew more than any other sector during the economic crisis.

After the general overview of the petrochemical sector in Spain, it was the cluster’s turn to share. The general director of ChemMed presented, as he had in Cologne the week before, the potential that makes Tarragona a benchmark chemical hub in southern Europe, stressing the importance of existing infrastructure and joint services.

Finally, the executive director of Invest in Spain, José Carlos Cabrera, presented the organisation’s investment attraction project, its mission and its action plan.

All three institutions agreed to seek lines of collaboration on order to position Tarragona as the ideal location for international investment in the chemistry industry, work that will materialise through future actions with companies and markets that they have, up to now, been working on separately.

This week the Mediterranean chemical cluster ChemMed Tarragona resumes its international activities with two presentations: one in France and one in Germany. As the end of its first year in operation draws to a close, representatives of the ChemMed Tarragona cluster continue to work to export Tarragona’s chemical industry brand and to seek new investment in the region.

The first delegation will be led by the president of ChemMed Tarragona and the chairman of Chemical Business Association of Tarragona (AEQT), Jesús Loma-Ossorio. The president will present the model of the Tarragona chemical cluster on Thursday in Lyon, where a seminar on industrial innovation will be held under the aegis of the Chemical Valley 2030 project. With this project, Lyon is pursuing a comprehensive model that encompasses industry, knowledge, and territory. ChemMed Tarragona was chosen to give the presentation in order to advance this objective, as the project sought a case that exemplifies these qualities – qualities that the largest chemical hub in southern Europe, located in Tarragona, is now exporting to the rest of world.

On the same Thursday, another delegation will present the cluster in Frankfurt, Germany. In this case, ChemMed will take part in Euroforum 2015, joining forces with BASF. For this reason, the presentation will be led by Teresa Pallarès, general director of ChemMed Tarragona, and Antoni Torà, site services manager at BASF Española in Tarragona.

Euroforum is a German discussion forum that, this year, will address operations, management and new business models. This year’s conference will also be open to the world, and ChemMed Tarragona will figure among the different models of business organisation presented there, as proposed by BASF Española.

Yesterday, as part of the Port of Tarragona’s international strategy, a meeting was held with companies from the petrochemical and logistics sectors and the Islamic Republic of Iran in co-operation with the PIMEC employers’ association and the Tehran Chamber of Commerce.

A delegation of Iranian businesspeople, members of the Tehran Chamber of Commerce, visited the Port of Tarragona facilities yesterday and learned about the services and infrastructure offered by the Port of Tarragona and southern Europe’s Mediterranean chemical cluster, ChemMed Tarragona. At the event, entrepreneurs from Tarragona’s port business community held a networking session with the Iranian delegation to establish trade relations between the two countries.

The general director of the Port of Tarragona, Francesc Sánchez, and the director of corporate development, Joan Basora, accompanied by members of the port’s sales and marketing team, welcomed the delegation of Iranian businessmen yesterday morning and held a working meeting which examined the strengths and opportunities offered by the Port of Tarragona for international trade. Afterwards, Teresa Pallarès, accompanied by the general director of ChemMed Tarragona, unveiled her vision for projecting Tarragona and the region’s competitiveness in the international arena. ChemMed Tarragona aims to attract and generate new investment and projects related to the cluster while strengthening its network of infrastructure, production facilities, port facilities, auxiliary industries, research centres, and professional education and training.

The delegation of Iranian businesspeople had the opportunity to tour the port’s facilities firsthand. To conclude the meeting, a networking session was held with businesspeople from Tarragona’s port community.

This networking meeting allowed Tarragona to establish business relations with the Iranian market, which is growing steadily. This Middle-Eastern country is currently the sixth largest oil producer in the world and is opening its doors to international trade.

The 2014 awards of the Association for the Promotion of the Port of Tarragona (APPORTT), now in its twelfth year, honoured ChemMed Tarragona as the most active company in the exterior promotion of the port area which seeks to consolidate Tarragona on the global map of the chemical industry and logistics sector.

The judges considered that ChemMed Tarragona bases its strategy on publicising its assets and positioning the Port of Tarragona on the worldwide chemical industry and logistics map.

The APPORTT awards aim to recognise the work of organisations and companies that devote their efforts to promoting the Port of Tarragona.

Among the other winners, ASESA, a company associated with the AEQT, received the quality award for renewing several European and energy management certifications.

This last Tuesday, the Minister of Industry, Energy and Tourism, José Manuel Soria, accompanied by the Secretary General of Industry, Begoña Cristeto, visited the facilities of ChemMed Tarragona, the Mediterranean chemical cluster.

The events slated for the visit began at midday at Repsol’s industrial complex in Tarragona, where an official ceremony was held with representatives of public and private entities from across the region.

The event was opened by Repsol’s chemical business director, Juan Carlos Ruiz Dorado, who welcomed the attendees and explained the importance of the Tarragona centre for his company. Ruiz Dorado talked about the need for Europe in general, as well Spain itself, to take a step forward in energy.

After his speech, the new chairman of FEIQUE, Anton Valero, took the stage. Valero, a Tarragona native who was named chair the Spanish Chemical Industry Federation at the beginning of the month, presented the values of a sector that provides solutions to the challenges facing humanity. He placed Tarragona at the epicentre of his discourse, without neglecting the importance of the rest of Spain at any point. The chairman of FEIQUE also focused on the subject of energy, a critical consideration for Tarragona’s cluster and the chemical industry in general. After the first two speeches were given, ChemMed shared its corporate video with the audience, followed by a speech from ChemMed’s president, Jesús Loma-Ossorio.
The leader of both ChemMed and the AEQT explained the potential of the cluster he represents, stating that ChemMed is not a brand seeking content, but rather over 40 years of content that needed a brand to project it to the world. The cluster represents an alliance of regional stakeholders to ensure the future of an industry that is critical to the region. Despite this comprehensive alliance, Loma stressed that the support of regulators is needed in important areas like energy and infrastructure. With this request, the president of ChemMed extended his hand to the Minister with an assurance that working together will lead to growth and, in turn, make Tarragona more attractive as a region and the chemical sector more attractive as an industry for future investment.

At his side, Minister Soria concluded the event by rising to the challenge of the previous speakers. The minister underscored his ministry’s commitment to attracting new investment and to providing access to the chemical industry. The Minister of Industry assured attendees that costs will continue to drop in 2014, and policies were being implemented to strengthen competitiveness. Soria said that the strength of Tarragona’s chemical industry can be seen in its innovation, its sales, its competitiveness and in its talent. He also affirmed that Tarragona provides a model to be followed, an example of combining environmental and economic sustainability.

After the speeches, the event was brought to a close with a ‘family’ picture with the ministerial representatives, the directors of FEIQUE, local stakeholders involved in the cluster and the directors of ChemMed Tarragona, led by president Jesús Loma-Ossorio, and the vice-president and president of the Port of Tarragona, Josep Andreu.

After the official ceremony, the leaders of the chemical industry accompanied the Minister on a visit to the northern and southern industrial parks, as well as to the port facilities in order to gain a clear overall picture of potential of the ChemMed cluster and Tarragona’s chemical sector in general.