Aurelio Martinez stresses the importance of the Port of Valencia for the Volkswagen battery plant

Valencians are not aware of the importance of Valenciaport for the location and business investment, and a project like Volkswagen has to come along to remind us of this,” said the president of the València Port Authority (PAV), Aurelio Martínez, following the announcement this morning by the Volkswagen group to set up its battery plant in Spain in Sagunto.

The announcement was made this morning by Thomas Schmall, member of the board of directors of Volkswagen, responsible for Technology and chairman of the board of directors of Seat at the presentation of Seat’s 2021 results. Schmall said, according to Europa Press, that the decision to locate in Sagunto was made after studying more than 100 variables. Among the variables analysed by the Wolfsburg-based consortium to award the project were logistics and port capacity.

“The port intervened as always,” indicates Aurelio Martínez, “although they systematically beat us, curiously enough, people come to locate here because there is a port, because the raw materials enter through the port and to mobilise the merchandise and export, they use the port and they have two to choose from, and one directly connected with a thousand ports”.

According to the Volkswagen Group’s announcement, its battery plant in Spain to be in Sagunto (Valencia) will have a maximum capacity of 40 GWh and a workforce of more than 3,000 people, and it will invest 7,000 million euros in its electrification plan in Spain.

For the president of the PAV, “this are spectacular news for Valencia, not only for the Port but for the whole of the Valencian Community. It is a commitment to be located in a geographical area, excellently communicated, probably the best we have in the whole of the Mediterranean in terms of surface connectivity: two ports, relatively close airports, railway infrastructures and motorways”. Aurelio Martínez also affirmed that “it is an endorsement of the commitment that has been made with Parc Sagunt and I hope that there will be more continuity in the development of this type of infrastructure, because there is space to do so and this will attract large companies. We are going to create a very important industrial hub in Sagunto”.