The Port of Barcelona has signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the Shanghai Municipal Transportation Commission and Shanghai International Port Group to establish a formal “sister ports” relationship and advance work on a Green Shipping and Digital Corridor between Spain and China, according to the Port of Barcelona.
The agreement was signed on 11 June by Port of Barcelona president José Alberto Carbonell, SMTC director general Xiao Hui and SIPG vice president Yang ZhiYong during a visit by an institutional and business delegation from Shanghai. Jaume Duch, regional minister for European Union and foreign action of the Generalitat of Catalonia, attended the ceremony.
The agreement covers cooperation on the digitalisation and security of port operations, green port development, alternative fuels, intermodality and sustainable maritime corridors between the Far East and the Mediterranean.
Barcelona and Shanghai signed a preliminary agreement in late July 2025. A Shanghai delegation led by Wang Haijian, SIPG vice president and director of operations, visited Barcelona in September 2025 for technical talks on the corridor and meetings linked to commercial and logistics exchanges between China and Europe.
The September programme included a visit to the Ebro-Chery facilities in Barcelona’s Free Zone. The latest Shanghai delegation visited Autoterminal’s vehicle terminal as the two ports continue work on the corridor.
The Port of Barcelona is managed by the Port Authority of Barcelona, the public body responsible for the port’s infrastructure, planning and port community coordination.
The Shanghai Municipal Transportation Commission is the municipal authority responsible for transport administration in Shanghai.
Shanghai International Port Group is the port operating group associated with Shanghai’s port facilities.