In the first panel discussion of the 134th anniversary conference of the “Jornal de Notícias”, taking place at the Cruise Terminal of the Port of Leixões in Matosinhos, solutions related to blue energy and decarbonization in the use of resources that the sea has to offer were presented.
Andreia Ventura, administrator of the ETE group (Empresa de Trafego e Estiva), was responsible for opening the discussion. The company is currently responsible for the construction of the first electric ferryboat. “It was a project that we won in the sequence of an international public tender, awarded by the Aveiro City Hall. It is a 100% Portuguese project”, said Andreia Ventura. The construction of the ferryboat will be concluded by the end of the year.
At the beginning of her speech, the administrator of the ETE group, founded in 1936, with headquarters in Lisbon, highlighted the presence of the company all over the world and in Portugal: “six countries, three continents”.
Moderated by Rafael Barbosa, deputy director of “Jornal de Notícias”, the next speaker was José Pinheiro, from Ocean Winds. The businessman began by highlighting the technological development undergone in the last ten years. In fact, as far as the floating wind power sector is concerned, it all started “in Póvoa de Varzim, in Aguçadoura, with a single floating boat”. That was the engine that led to the “WindFloat Atlantic” project, off Viana do Castelo.
“It’s a journey that gives us encouragement and this ambition to bet more and more on floating wind technology,” particularly along the Portuguese coast, thanks to the conditions it presents. “We should all be proud. Without the sea, it will be impossible to make the energy transition that we almost emergently need,” concluded José Pinheiro.
Nuno Araújo, in turn, chairman of the Board of Directors of APDL – Administration of the Ports of Douro, Leixões and Viana do Castelo, noted that, like the resilience of “Jornal de Notícias” and “the way it has been fighting”, the Port of Leixões has also sought similar ways to respond to the challenges it has been facing.
With a well-defined strategy, highlighted Nuno Araújo, APDL is investing in works such as the extension of the breakwater, which will allow to receive “larger ships, but less polluting”, but also in business diversification. In other words, trying to understand how the Port of Leixões can be, from the energy point of view, self-sufficient.
To achieve this goal, APDL wants to move forward with a hydrogen factory at the Port of Leixões. There is even an electric truck that circulates through the terminal, pointed out the administrator. However, the railroad has also been one of the areas where APDL has been betting.
“If, in the next decade, we are going to increase our cargo capacity, it is not acceptable to double the amount of trucks”, clarified Nuno Araújo, pointing the railroad as the only environmentally acceptable solution.
