• • Road transport centres: these have a logistics department and a department for providing services for people and vehicles, administrative centres for transport companies and freight contracting centres. In Spain there are 80, including the Transport Centre of Gijón, the Transport City of Navarra and the Transport City of Santander. In most cases, these are managed by a single administrative board and private partners.
    The type of freight transported by road is heterogeneous, covering both raw materials, as well as finished, bulk or packaged products.
    According to statistics from the Ministry of Public Works, in 2016 the largest volume of goods transported by road in Spain corresponded to raw or processed minerals and construction materials (417 million tonnes), followed by food and fodder (245), machinery, vehicles, and other manufactured items (251), agricultural products and live animals (158, a figure similar to the ‘other goods’ item), and petroleum products, 57. In total, nearly 1.3 billion tonnes.

• • Rail freight terminals: Madrid-Abroñigal, León Mercancías and Zaragoza-Plaza. State-owned to date, in most cases, the Spanish rail infrastructure administrator, Adif, assumes both the management and the provision of services to business users.
    In Spain, rail is used mainly to transport steel products and materials (coils, steel, rails, pipes, etc.), wood, paper, solid bulk (coal, cement, cereals) and liquid bulk (fuels, chemical products), containerized cargo and automobiles. However, its share in the freight transport sector is very small (around 2% of the tonnage) and less than the European average. In total, in 2016, more than 28.5 million tonnes of goods were transported by rail, virtually all within Spain. Intermodal traffic accounted for nearly nine million tonnes.

• • Port logistics centres: As a peninsula, Spain is the European country with the longest coastline (more 7,800 kilometres) and has 46 ports, governed by 28 port authorities coordinated by the public body Puertos del Estado. 58% of exports and 74% of imports pass through these ports, arriving and departing for distribution by road (93%) or rail. Port activity accounts for 1.1% of Spanish GDP, generating more than 35,000 direct jobs, and a further 110,000 indirect jobs.
    It is managed under a landlord model: the public sector is the owner of the infrastructure, which it cedes to the private sector, which acquires and maintains the superstructure and deals with port operations and the employment of labour.
    In 2016, according to the Ministry of Public Works, Spanish ports exceeded their all-time record, handling 507.7 million tonnes of freight, more than half of which was solid bulk (cement, coal, grain, minerals, etc.) or liquids, the most important being oil, and the rest, general goods, most of which is carried in containers, which, also in line with world trends, reached a record of almost 15 million TEUs. Containerization of cargo saves space and facilitates modal interchange, since the different transport modes and systems are adapted to the standard sizes of the containers.
    The port logistic facilities include the rail port terminals, which connect to the railway network. These include the terminal in Spain’s largest port in terms of volume of goods, Algeciras, and others in Alicante, Valencia or Barcelona. The type of management is generally established by an agreement between the different port authorities and the railway manager.
    On the other hand, the Logistics Activity Zones (LAZ) are linked to sea ports and are dedicated to the storage distribution of goods and other value-added services. These usually have complex management models involving various public and private agents. Of particular interest are the LAZs in Algeciras, Valencia and Barcelona.

• • Dry ports: intermodal freight terminals are located inland and are connected to one or more ports by the railway network. They offer the possibility of conducting customs controls on goods upon arrival at the facility, rather than at the seaport, which speeds up operation. They mainly move containerized cargo.
    The main Spanish dry ports are Azuqueca de Henares, in Guadalajara; the Dry Port of Coslada, in Madrid, which connects by railway to the ports of Valencia, Algeciras, Barcelona and Bilbao, and the Sea Terminal of Zaragoza. Several agents are involved in their management, both public, such as the port authorities, and private.

• Air freight centres: these are industrial and service zones located around major airports. Depending on their size, they can have multiple terminals, where different companies from the aeronautical and other sectors can operate. They often have business centres and other services. These are currently managed by Aena, the state airport operator.
  The goods that are transported by air are very specific, and are characterised by their low volume and high added value: these include live animals, cut flowers, perishable products such as seafood, valuable goods, express parcel services, fashion items (the Inditex Group in Zaragoza is a prime example), etc.
  The most important air freight centre, according to Aena statistics, is the airport of Barajas, Madrid, which with almost 416,000 tonnes in 2016 (9% more than the previous year) accounts for more than 50% of national air freight traffic, followed by Barcelona-El Prat, with almost 133,000 tonnes, 13.5% more than 2015. The Zaragoza airport, which like the one in Vitoria, specialises in freight, is in third place with almost 111,000 tonnes; it had the biggest growth in 2016 with an increase of 29%. The three centres operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

1. 1. Analysis and diagnosis of the current situation: the socio-economic characteristics of the study area are examined, as well as the existing transport infrastructure, its main centres and production sectors, the current demand for goods, and possible effects on the environment. Finally, a diagnosis is prepared.

1. 1. Territorial and transport system planning: the national or regional documents that relate to the infrastructure planning, as well as the urban soil classification are studied.

1. 1. Estimation of the future demand for goods: an estimation of the growth in traffic, as well as the possible modification of the distribution model, is prepared. It is usually taken into account that expected demand will not be reached in the first year of operation, which is considered an initial maturation or ramp-up period.

1. 1. Analysis of the technical feasibility of the terminal:
      4a. Functional analysis: an intermodal logistics terminal is usually made up of two distinct functional areas:
      • Intermodal area: this area includes the intermodal rail terminal and associated services. This is the zone where the goods change their method of transport.
      • Logistics area: dedicated to handling goods and other specific distribution activities, as well as the storage and consolidation of freight.
      4b. Technical and railway operating conditions: rail connection type of the terminal, gauge, electrification, etc.
      4c. Design of the intermodal and logistics area.

1. 1. Analysis of the economic feasibility of the terminal: different economic scenarios are considered and modelled, and the investments, costs and operating revenues are calculated. The main parameters of profitability of the project (TIR, VAN, etc) are obtained as a result of this economic modelling.

1. Terminal development and management models: they depend on the development strategy, the land regime, the complexity and profitability of the initiative, and the applicable legal framework.

Mediterranean Corridor

Functionally, one of the most significant challenges of this corridor is efficiently connecting the main seaports of the Spanish Mediterranean coast (Barcelona, Tarragona, Valencia, Cartagena and Algeciras) with central Europe. As such, the aim of the most important activities is to connect Spain’s ports with an international standard gauge of 1,435 mm, alter the rail network so that trains of up to 740 m can run, and remove bottlenecks. Many of these actions, those which affect the section between Castellbisbal and Almería, are currently in progress and/or the project preparation stage, in which Ineco is also participating actively. Another key aim is to build an east-west multimodal transport axis.

Additionally, the construction of an east-west multimodal transport axis has been planned to benefit and enable economic relations in southern Europe, where some of the most important urban centres are located: Madrid, Valencia, Barcelona, Marseille, Lyon, Turin, Milan, Venice, Ljubljana, Zagreb and Budapest. To make this east-west axis come to fruition, the major projects centre around eliminating the current lack of continuity in border crossings between countries, especially between Spain and France (Figueres-Perpignan), France and Italy (Lyon-Turin) and Italy and Slovenia (Trieste-Divaca). The future high speed Lyon-Turin section involves building a 57-kilometre base tunnel, which will be one of the longest railway tunnels in the world. Base tunnels are one of the largest European investments to ensure the railway’s competitive advantage over travel by road and consequently a road-rail modal diversion in especially sensitive areas like the Pyrenees or the Alps, geographical obstacles that strongly condition this corridor.

The consortium commissioned to conduct the Mediterranean Corridor study comprises PwC, Ineco, SETEC and Panteia. PwC is the consortium leader and is responsible for maintaining an up-to-date list on projects worked on by Italy, Slovenia and Croatia. SETEC and Panteia are responsible for French and Hungarian matters, respectively. Ineco shares responsibility for keeping an up-to-date list of Spanish projects with PwC Spain, providing its railway and air transport experience. Spain is a key player in the Mediterranean Corridor, as 45% of the railway corridor traverses our country, spanning the Algeciras-Madrid-Barcelona-French border, Barcelona-Valencia-Almería and Almería-Antequera-Seville sections. Ineco also leads the part relating to innovation in task 3b of the study, in which expansion of the list of Mediterranean Corridor projects is analysed, paying attention to more cross-cutting aspects.

Since in the first studies presented in 2014, 300 projects were identified, the aims of the Mediterranean Corridor consortium members centre on defining, prioritising and estimating the most essential activities, among which what is sought is to enable goods to be transported by railway rather than by road. It is calculated that, with total implementation of the corridor in 2030, 40 million tonnes of goods could be transferred from road to railway.

Atlantic Corridor

Ineco currently participates in the study of the Atlantic Corridor for the European Commission in a consortium led by Portuguese consultancy TIS together with the companies EGIS, Panteia, M-FIVE and BG21. In addition to providing the information relative to Spain, Ineco has a lead role in defining the list of Atlantic Corridor projects, a job that requires identifying and analysing corridor projects in progress or being planned, gathering information from the agents involved in the projects (in the case of Spain, we might highlight the Ministry of Public Works, ADIF, Puertos del Estado (Spanish State Ports), AENA, the Autonomous Regions, private agents, etc.) on the projects’ scope, timeframe and investment needs, a key aspect to specify and establish subsequently the prioritisation of activities in the corridor.

The Atlantic Corridor has an excellent network of roads, which are almost all highways. There is partial interoperability of the system of road tolls, with various projects underway to fully implement them in the corridor. As for rail transport, some aspects such as single-track lines, the lack of electrification, or Spain and Portugal’s distinct track gauge and its alteration to match the international standard gauge (1,435 mm), are significant obstacles to the development of goods transportation. Also worth noting as other hurdles to climb in the corridor’s railway network are the partial absence of the ERTMS and the need to adapt infrastructure to allow trains of up to 740 m.

The European Commission has emphasised the need to solve access from ports to other modes of transport, particularly the railway. At the port of Algeciras –the largest of the entire corridor by volume– reports underline the essential importance of the electrification of the line and alteration of tracks and terminals to admit the aforementioned 740-metre freight trains.

Other proposals are the improved navigability of the River Seine between Paris and Benelux and access to the railways from all airports along the corridor. Only Paris-CDG (Roissy) Airport meets all the requirements of Regulation (EU) N.º 1315/2013 and has a long-distance railway link. Paris Orly and Madrid Barajas Airports link to the suburban railway and metro; those of Porto and Lisbon only with the metro; and Bilbao and Bordeaux do not have railway links.

1.   Removing bottlenecks.
2.   Building cross-border connections.
3.   Promoting intermodal integration and interoperability.
4.   Integrating rail freight lines.
5.   Promoting clean energy.
6.   Applying technologies for better infrastructure use.
7.   Integrating urban areas into the Core Network Corridors.
8.   Enhancing safety.

• Corridors, EC (2016)