ZAL PORT r4

ZAL PORTTHE SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS REVIEW
22 23Quarter 4 2016 - The Sustainable Business Review
The Sustainable Business Review - Quarter 4 2016
ZALPort:JEWEL
OF THE IBERIAN
PENINSULA
ZAL Port is one of a handful of
legacy projects associated with the
Olympics that has fulfilled its mandate to
create economic and social development.
The company was created as part of the
infrastructure development
for the 1992 Olympic Games
staged in Barcelona.

The
ZAL modelIt is the first port logistics platform established in Spain and the success of its development model
is internationally recognised as best practice. As a result, the use of the term "ZAL" has grown
from being a name in itself to becoming a generic name in reference to this type of platform. The
company has capitalised on this recognition and accelerated the promotion of the "ZAL brand".
As part of the rebranding strategy it underwent a name change as well as a logo redesign which
has been welcomed by stakeholders. CILSA - the company that manages the port concession in
the Logistics Activity Zone (ZAL Port) in the Port of Barcelona – is a recognised trendsetter in the
sector which promotes the concept of a true logistical hub. Due to the importance of the Port of
Barcelona for the company and its location, the word "Port" has been added to its brand name
allowing the market to easily differentiate it from other port logistic developments in Spain.
Alfonso Martínez the General Manager of CILSA spoke to SBR about what
made ZAL such a formidable success. He said that the ZAL Port offers
land and innovative and sustainable logistic warehouses for rent in an
intermodal environment with design and quality finishes. It has AAA
warehouses that are not available anywhere else in the territory
of Barcelona. Moreover it is located in a prime area very close
to an attractive consumer market and is well connected with
their overseas markets via sea links, a railway connection
and direct interconnection with a network of motorways,
it is near the airport etc. Facilities include 24/7 security,
maintenance and cleaning services.
It achieved the
best economic
performance
in history, registering
a total revenue of
€41.8 million

ZAL PORT
THE SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS REVIEW
Some
performance highlights:
• In 2015 the procurement of logistical areas in Catalonia
increased by 67%, reaching almost 550,000 m² compared to
the 330,000 m² in 2014.
• It achieved the best economic performance in history,
registering a total revenue of €41.8 million, increasing its
EBITDA by a 17.1% reaching €21.5 million with a Net Result
of 51.4%, reaching €5.9 million.
• An average occupancy of 96% in the logistic warehouses
throughout 2015 and a 97% occupancy rate at the end of the
year
• Procurement of 131,000 m², of which 30,000 m² were new
contracts and 101,000 m² renewed contracts.
Bold plan to divert the
mouth of the Llobregat River
The final stretch of the river Llobregat, which
was at the time located between the two areas
of the ZAL Port (the first phase of Barcelona
and its expansion in El Prat de Llobregat),
presented a serious problem to its plans
for expansion. At the time the Port was
undertaking the biggest enlargement in its
history and development was hampered
by the position of the river which:
• Formed a natural boundary south of the
Port of Barcelona at that time and therefore
became an obstacle to its growth; and
• Problems connected with the hydraulic capacity
which regularly arose in its final stretch during periods of
heavy rain.

A
s part of its
expansion, the
Port of Barcelona
embarked on a bold
plan to divert the mouth
of the river to the south
to take advantage of
the improved hydraulic
capacity. With this
diversion, the Port of
Barcelona was able
to plan the future
multimodal railway
station along the old
Llobregat riverbed.
The diversion of a river causes significant
effects on the territory which it used to cross
and it had to deal with:
• The natural drainage systems and the surface
and groundwater hydrology in the diverted
section as a whole had to be modified;
• The effect on all the rainwater drainage
systems which poured into this stretch of
the river;
• The alteration of natural systems linked to
this hydrological system; and
• The new course of the river would affect a
nature reserve located alongside the Prat
International Airport.
Saving the endangered
Kentish Plover
The Kentish Plover is a small bird which lives
and breeds near rivers like the Llobregat in
Barcelona and is found in the final stretch
of the river Llobregat. The plover’s nesting
is often disturbed by people walking on the
beach to the extent that it has been put on the
endangered species list.
With the diversion of the river mouth, a plan
was formed to capture and divert the fauna
of this fragile ecosystem of the delta of the
Llobregat. This would involve diverting the
river in a way that would show the almost
respect for the environment and would not be
considered to be finished until they managed
to relocate the Kentish plover to the adjacent
nature reserve.S

Sustainable
logistics
It isn’t difficult to see why ZAL Port was
awarded the highest status of energy
efficiency and is a recognised leader in
environmental best practise.
Respect for the environment and social responsibility are core
issues when it comes to its planning and management. The energy
efficiency of the logistics area is a priority objective for ZAL Port, which
has been up and running since 2014 with for example the design of
new warehouses with skylights to maximize the use of sunlight and
efficient LED lighting and magnetic induction technology.
It has a purchasing group for electricity to negotiate the best kWh
pricing for all the installations in ZAL Port.
Relief from the heat of the Mediterranean climate can be found in
the interior of the warehouses, thanks to active ventilation systems
such as fans or passive systems.
As well as this, it promotes advanced fuel savings systems for
vehicles and fleets, to cite some examples.
Currently the ZAL Port photovoltaic coverage measures 60,000 m²
of flat coverage with 3 MW of plates.
Recent measures that have been included in its environmental
policy during the past year include the replacing of the areas’ street
lights with LED lighting. This measure has made substantial energy
savings in addition to considerably reducing CO₂ emissions.
In the Service Center building the light installations have been
replaced with LED lighting and a state-of-the art air conditioning
system has been installed; solar film has been placed on the
building’s windows that filters light and heat intensity as well as other
corrective measures that have made great energy savings. This has
resulted in obtaining the level A (maximum level of recognition) in
the Certificate of Energy Efficiency of the building.

Construction is underway on two new warehouses
under the parameters of the LEED certification
(Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) that
will allow the ZAL Port to have more sustainable and
energy efficient buildings.
CILSA continues to work with the objective of
strengthening its environmental commitment, for
this reason in the first quarter of 2016 it obtained
the EMAS register (Eco-Management and Audit
Scheme), in addition this year it intends and expects
to meet the requirements of the United Nations
Agreement in CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility)
The history of
ZALPort
1992:The hosting of the Olympic
Games, resulted in a huge economic
boost for the city of Barcelona and the
entire region of Catalonia. As a result,
Barcelona was rated one of the top
cities in Europe in 2000, based on a
number of factors including the quality
of life offered and the ability to attract
foreign investment.
Barcelona began to position itself
as a logistics platform in southern
Europe given the steady increase of
international traffic as a result of the
globalisation of the economy and
the concentration of production and
distribution centers.
As part of its strategic framework, the Port of
Barcelona decided to create the ZAL Port (Zona de
Actividades Logísticas - Logistical Activities Zone)
in 1992, to help position the port as a leader in
Southern Europe and the Mediterranean. They set
up an entity called CILSA (Centro de Intermodal
Logistica S.A. - Intermodal Logistics Centre Ltd.)
which would be in charge of the development
and management of ZAL Port.
Spain’s integration into the EU meant the lifting
of customs barriers which contributed to the free
movement of goods in the European Community
and the creation of a single market.
Companies started to outsource logistics services
to increase customer satisfaction. Having a good
logistical network was becoming one of the key
factors to ensure success.
The advantage that ZAL Port had over
competitors wasthat they had good intermodal
centers in which different modes of transport
were combined: land, sea, rail and air transport,
in the best location of Barcelona.
2002: A decade later the first phase of 69 hectares,
the ZAL Port (BCN), was established, and
culminated with the construction of the Service
Centre building, where a large part of the services
intended for people and companies established in
the ZAL Port are now concentrated. The service
was extended to neighbouring industrial estates
as it was strategically placed in a free access
area, so as to be able to meet the day to day
needs of the people who work in this platform
and its surrounding areas.
This date coincided with the incorporation of a
new shareholder, Abertis, which helped with the
expansion of the development, with a project of
another 143 hectares, in the municipality of El
Prat del Llobregat: ZAL Port (Prat).

Happy people
addmorevalue
6,000 direct employees work in the ZAL Port.
Mr Martínez emphasised that offering services to
these people is the core of their strategy because
happy employees lead to happy clients and this
results in an increase in the contracts signed.
ZAL Port provides a nursery school for children from
0 to 3 years of age and develops an educational
model based on balancing work and family life.
Other staff benefits include facilities such as a
fitness room, a multi-purpose indoor cycle room, a
physiotherapist’s clinic and fully equipped changing
rooms and the provision of subsidised transport.

Future
PlansExciting changes are planned as a result of a change
in shareowners (CILSA is 63% owned by the Barcelona
Port Authority, 32% by MERLIN Properties and 5% by
SEPES, Entidad Pública Empresarial de Suelo (Public
Enterprise for Land under the Ministry of Development)).
MERLIN Properties has replaced Abertis (MERLIN
Properties is the first SOCIMI (Sociedad Cotizada
Anónima de Inversión en el Mercado Inmobiliario - Real
Estate Investment Trust) of the country and a company
listed on the Ibex 35, which implies clear confidence in
the private capital company for the long term. In less
than two years MERLIN Properties will become the top
player in logistic real-estate in Spain, which will without
a doubt contribute to ZAL Port’s new expansion process
and growth in its organization) and also CILSA will be
refinancing €76 million of the company's liabilities, which
substantially reduces the service's debt for the next 5
years. This will allow it to devote the resources generated
by the company into growth.
Already two contracts have been signed with the Consorci
de la Zona Franca of Barcelona for the 75 (50+25) year
lease of almost all the available land in the BZ (the former
land where the SEAT car factory was located in the Zona
Franca area of Barcelona, which is in turn located on the
prime logistic area of the city of Barcelona). This allows
ZAL Port to lease and manage 27 new hectares of net
land which is known as: ZAL Port - Ciutat (City), and that
together with the capacity that we had already at ZAL
Port (Prat), will allow us to construct more than 350,000
m² of new logistic premises.

ZAL PORT r4

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