Influence of Ports on Catalonia’s Development

Abstract

The paper shows the influence of ports on Catalonia’s development. Barcelona and Tarragona ports were selected for this study. The point of departure was that ports define strategic plans which describe their reality and environment, specifying what they are and what they want to be and designing their future within a specified time frame. With this in mind, the strategic plans of several EU ports in the Mediterranean and Atlantic areas and of Barcelona and Tarragona ports were compared. Comparison items included initial basic ideas such as mission, vision, values and commitments, as well as a common goal of all ports which is regarded as one of their main indicators, i.e. forecast of port traffic data and their evolution.

The paper examines port traffic data time series and compares their corresponding ARIMA forecasting models. The Box-Jenkins method was applied considering first all available data and second atypical data. Finally, the impact of the latter on the future of ports is determined. This objective work practice enables the influence of Barcelona and Tarragona ports on Catalonia’s development to be assessed from a territorial, economic and social perspective. The conclusions of the paper focus on this aspect.