To live or not to live off the inherited rights of Franco. A country capable of joining the euro is unable to eliminate the Francoist legacy in the management of labor in ports. And this is despite the existence of a Ministry of Democratic Memory. The National Commission on Markets and Competition (CNMC) has marked a turning point in Spanish port policy. During the sectoral day held this June, the outgoing president of the agency, Cani Fernández, articulated a significant institutional critique regarding the port management system. Fernández pointed out that the inefficiencies of the sector transcend the strictly logistical field to directly impact the competitiveness of Spanish companies, questioning the transparency in the awarding of concessions and the operations of stevedoring, informs Puertos y Navieras.
The Madrilenian stew affects the Canary ports that face Morocco, where a stevedore earns 430 euros per month, compared to 8,800 euros net in Las Palmas. The intervention of the CNMC technical team, led by Alfonso Gamba Crespo, heightened the tone of the criticism. The analysis presented advocated for a total liberalization of the stevedoring market, demanding the elimination of the Port Employment Centers (CPE) and the removal of entry barriers for new workers, including international mobility. The Competition study also denounced the restrictions imposed on the automation of terminals, emphasizing how these obstacles, defended by union organizations such as the right-wing Coordinadora, hinder the system’s efficiency. In Las Palmas, the union is part of the CEOE of Las Palmas.
The day concluded with an explicit request to the CNMC to deepen the analysis of family ties and hiring structures in the sector. The suspicion of systemic nepotism has marked the public debate on the need to reform a sector that, after decades of exceptionalism, now faces unsustainable fiscal and regulatory pressure in the global market. The paralysis of port governance remains, after this event, under scrutiny by a reality that no longer admits extensions.
Controversial Intervention by State Ports
The underbrush. The institutional counterpoint was provided by the operations director of State Ports, Pedro García, whose intervention generated deep discomfort among attendees. In what marked his public debut following a controversial appointment, García Navarro delivered a speech that strayed from the technical parameters required by the context of the forum. The executive attempted to invalidate all the CNMC reports with an argument focused on the preeminence of geopolitical factors over operational competition.
Where does the PSOE get these people?
García Navarro minimized the relevance of intraport competition, even denying the causal relationship between the efficiency of tug or pilot services and the attraction capacity of a logistics chain. This positioning has been characterized by market sectors as a retreat, especially for ignoring the direct impact that the stevedoring model has on traffic loss. The case of Algeciras, which has lost an estimated volume of five million TEUs to Tangier-Med, stands as the most recurrent example of the opportunity cost resulting from Spain’s regulatory rigidity.
Captivity and Labor Monopoly
The criticisms were not limited to the public administration. Pilar Tejo, representing the Association of Short Sea Shipping, denounced a situation of operational ‘captivity’. According to the association, shipping companies lack real alternatives against port service providers with little effective competition. The current structure forces maritime operators to assume costs and pre-established conditions with no room for maneuver, a phenomenon that, according to the shipping company, is replicated in most Spanish ports.
Courage in the face of hijacking
The session reached its highest tension with the intervention of Joaquín Coello from the Asoport association, who identified the ‘elephant in the room’: the monopoly on stevedoring labor. Coello denounced that the control of the system does not reside in a company, but in a union that operates under the logic of a private monopoly.
The speaker presented devastating comparative data: the cost burden per ton in ports like Valencia compared to Antwerp or Rotterdam leaves the Spanish system in a position of competitive disadvantage. The criticism focused particularly on the training requirements. While access to the profession in Spain demands more than 800 hours of training —with a curriculum de facto controlled by the union—, in other European countries, the standard is reduced to a minimal fraction, as in the case of the 25 hours required in Portugal.
