• June 7th, 2024

MedaLogistics Week Barcelona 2024 closed yesterday in Barcelona, consolidating its position as the logistics summit of reference not only in the Mediterranean but also globally. This 20th edition, held on June 5 and 6 in the framework of SIL Barcelona, counted with the participation of 40 speakers and more than 400 CEOs and representatives coming from different governments, Mediterranean Chambers of Commerce and Industry, and organisations, making this summit not only a space for debate on new challenges and trends in the industry but also as the main platform for connection and investment for the global logistics community.

This year’s claim was linking Europe, Asia and Africa through the Mediterranean and logistics. In fact, the most repeated word in all the sessions was “cooperation”, more necessary than ever to seek joint solutions to current and future challenges – geopolitical context, digital transformation, sustainable transition, gender equality or knowledge transfer and innovation between public and private sector – and forge business connections to explore emerging opportunities.

According to Mr. Anwar Zibaoui, General Coordinator of ASCAME, “during the two days of MedaLogistics we could see the willingness of all the institutional and business representatives of the sector to join forces to ensure that the Mediterranean once again becomes the hub of trade and investment that unites the three continents was noted”. He adds: “MedaLogistics is today more than ever a space for hope, dialogue and cooperation in these difficult times. All the sessions highlighted the need for cross-border cooperation to move forward together on projects such as corridors and logistics ports in the Mediterranean, as well as initiatives to optimize supply chains and reduce the carbon footprint.”

For this reason, this year’s edition was a turning point for all public and private agents to start working on a new roadmap for the coming years in the logistics and transport sector. All those attending this year’s event agreed that now is the time to reposition the Mediterranean as the major logistics platform for east-west flows and as the best option for channeling cargo between Asia, Africa and Europe. This process brings great value to both shores of the region and becomes a unifying and constructive factor for cooperation and, above all, for achieving peace in the Mediterranean.

Holding MedaLogistics in Barcelona gives this city the international recognition it enjoys from the logistics point of view. Its excellent geographical location places Barcelona as the main logistics hub in the Mediterranean, connecting the three continents. The port of Barcelona is one of the most important in Europe and the Mediterranean and the fourth in the global ranking, connecting with more than 850 ports worldwide. The Barcelona-El Prat airport is also a logistics hub of reference in the world, to which must be added the extensive network of infrastructures that allow Barcelona to lead in intermodal transport. According to Mr. Zibaoui, “Barcelona, due to its strategic location, capacity and infrastructures, has now the opportunity to consolidate itself as the capital of this cross-border cooperation, turning the great current and future challenges into great business and investment opportunities”.

Once again, ASCAME has organized MedaLogistics together with the Consorci de la Zona Franca de Barcelona and the collaboration of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Barcelona, coinciding again with SIL Barcelona, the leading logistics, transport, intralogistics and supply chain trade fair in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. The success in terms of attendance and business and institutional representation in all the sessions is in addition to that achieved in the past 19 previous ones, in which 22,300 CEOs, more than 600 high-level speakers from the private sector, governments, and regional and international organizations from 50 countries have participated. In total, some 52,500 business connections and B2B contacts have been made, which confirms the business opportunities that arise each year at this summit and the multiple investment options available to start-ups in the sector.