Training

The facilities of the Faro de la Cerda occupy a plot of 5,000 m2 located at the eastern end of the Parque de la Magdalena. This place, before being used as a maritime signal, was used as the site of one of the defensive batteries that during the Modern Age protected Santander from maritime aggressions: the fortification of San Carlos de la Cerda, whose oldest references date back to 1639. Near the site of this bastion, the construction of the maritime signal was planned, which was inaugurated in 1870.

At present, these facilities, organized around two buildings surrounded by large landscaped areas, are used by the Port Authority for teaching purposes, technical meetings and institutional representation activities; they are also the headquarters of the International Center for Port Technology and Administration (CITAP), the International Association of Port Law, "Santander Port Lab" and the office of the incubator-accelerator of the "Ports 4.0" program.

• International Association of Port Law: 
  https://www.asociacionderechoportuario.es/

Today, in the port sector, as in all industries and fields of economic activity, the resource "knowledge" is one of the key ingredients for value creation.

One of the hallmarks of the Port of Santander is its vocation as a "knowledge operator", a role it has been promoting through training, innovation, research and dissemination actions that, with a global vision and open to society, aim to improve the productivity, competitiveness and sustainability of the sector.

Promoted by the Port Authority of Santander, the Menéndez Pelayo International University, the University of Cantabria, Puertos del Estado and the Government of Cantabria, the "International Center for Port Technology and Administration" (CITAP) was created in 2009, an initiative of international projection and Latin American vocation aimed at building a space of knowledge for the modernization and progress of the port industry.

CITAP is part of "Cantabria Campus Internacional", one of the Campus of Excellence of the Spanish universities, and for the monitoring of its activities it has a Management Commission formed by representatives of its promoting entities.

• Menéndez Pelayo International University:  http://www.uimp.es
• University of Cantabria:  https://web.unican.es
• State Ports: http://www.puertos.es
• Government of Cantabria:  https://www.cantabria.es

Another of the backbones of the Port of Santander's activity as a "knowledge operator" is its commitment to the transmission of knowledge for educational, cultural and informative purposes through the publication of publications.

This commitment has led the Port Authority of Santander to design an active policy crystallized through the implementation of its own publishing program, as well as through co-publications and collaborations with other entities.

The core of the Port of Santander's publishing activity is made up of the publications linked to the exhibition programs of its cultural spaces, Palacete del Embarcadero and Centro de Arte Faro de Cabo Mayor; and those integrated in the "Navalia" project, a bibliographic collection articulated around four specialized collections.

"Navalia Library", dedicated to the publication of monographs on the maritime and port history of Santander and Cantabria; "Navalia Visual", editorial support for research focused on the visual memory of the port of Santander; "Navalia Técnica", aimed at the publication of studies on economic, legal and business aspects, etc.; and "Navalia Aula", a series preferably reserved for the publication of papers given at seminars and meetings organized by the Port Authority.

• Corporate Activities Dept.: [email protected]

Knowledge is also one of the purposes that governs the relations of the Port of Santander with foreign port entities and international organizations in the sector: exchange, transfer and access to experiences, solutions and good practices; collaboration in training, research and innovation actions: constitution of joint technical work groups, etc.

To promote and articulate these relationships, the Port Authority, in addition to participating in international events and forums, signs collaboration agreements with organizations with which it shares similar goals and objectives.

In recent times, ports, driven by their central role in the operation of a globalized economy, have been progressively increasing their demands for innovation and new knowledge.

Creating and applying knowledge to, among other things, make better decisions, optimise the management of everyday needs, accelerate efficiency, do more with less, be more creative, innovative and productive.

Innovate to conceive and provide new and better services, to transform one's own capabilities and singularities into sustainable advantages, to adapt to changes, to respond to new challenges, to anticipate the future, etc.

Favouring the generation of new knowledge, of fresh thinking; facilitating the exploration of ideas capable of inspiring and inducing innovative actions; mobilising the entrepreneurial spirit, are objectives of preferential attention for the Port Authority of Santander, which it promotes through the figure of "Santander Port Lab".

An important resource for research at the Port of Santander is its Documentation Centre, which in addition to housing the institution's documentary collections, has an important library and specialised newspaper and periodicals library.

4.0 PORTS

The Open Innovation Programme of Puertos del Estado and the Spanish Port Authorities, PUERTOS 4.0, aims to attract talent and promote entrepreneurship in the sector to boost its productivity, competitiveness and sustainability, both in its public and private aspects, and to facilitate its transition towards the 4.0 economy. To this end, it has an important capital fund aimed at subsidising innovative ideas and projects that provide solutions, differential capabilities and competitive advantages to the logistics-port industry; and an incubator/accelerator for start-ups and spin-offs that provides advice, guidance and support to ideas and projects to boost their take-off and market launch.

The Port of Santander has been playing an active role in this programme through SANTANDER PORT LAB, one of the state headquarters of Ports 4.0 and a local "driver" promoting and dynamising the innovation capacities of the APS and its logistics-port community.

• Ports 4.0: https://ports40.es
• Corporate Activities Dept: [email protected]

SANTANDER PORT LAB

In order to mobilize and expand the innovation capacity of the Port of Santander and its logistic-port community, and to configure a creative and entrepreneurial environment (startups, spin-offs, advanced engineering, research centers, etc.) around it with the potential to conceive and develop products, services, technologies, etc. that add value, the Port Authority of Santander has been working on the creation of an "ecosystem" that enables the flow and combination of internal and external knowledge, facilitates experimentation, and promotes the emergence, crystallization, and implementation of good ideas and projects.

Santander Port Lab, the driving force behind this "ecosystem", is supported by various instruments, including the "Ports 4.0" Fund and the collaboration of entities such as SODERCAN and CISE, for the development of three fundamental tasks:

Devising responses: generating knowledge resources for solving problems, challenges or needs; imagining "novelties", identifying or creating new opportunities, etc.

Asking questions: to stock up on visions and lines of thought on the future of ports and their drivers and trends of change, capable of awakening inspiration and stimulating the creative potential of the "ecosystem", both to change the present and to inspire and guide the future.

Nurturing creative minds: providing learning opportunities and contexts for the "ecosystem" to be nurtured with new knowledge, skills and attitudes that ignite their imagination.

• SODERCAN: https://www.sodercan.es
• CISE: https://www.cise.es

People are the heart of any organisation, their knowledge and skills are the wellspring from which the main ingredients for the generation of differential capabilities and competitive advantages emanate, and creating value is much easier with well-trained people.

Since the mid 80s of the last century, the Port of Santander has been promoting, individually or in collaboration with other entities, a wide range of training activities which have made it a recognised national and international benchmark - especially in Latin America - in the design, organisation and delivery of specialised training for the sector.

ADVANCED TRAINING

PORT WEEK is an advanced training initiative that has been implemented annually since 2021 as part of the summer academic program at the Menéndez Pelayo International University in Santander. Through a series of specialized meetings, its goal is to increase awareness in the sector, provide new ideas, encourage analysis and debate on issues and topics related to the STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK, a planning tool that establishes the direction of state-dependent port organizations towards the 2030 horizon.

IBEROAMERICAN COURSE ON ENGINEERING, OPERATIONS AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT IN PORTS

The Ibero-American Course on Engineering, Operations, and Environmental Management in Ports is an annual on-site training initiative held in Santander, with academic and residential facilities. It is the result of a cooperative effort promoted by Puertos del Estado, on behalf of the Spanish port system, and the Inter-American Commission of Ports of the Organization of American States, in close collaboration with the Port Authority of Santander and the universities of Cantabria and Menéndez Pelayo International. The goal is to provide training and knowledge updating to active professionals in the Latin American port sector based on the Spanish experience and case studies.

INTERNSHIP PROGRAMME

Conceived as an international cooperation initiative, the APS INTERNSHIP PROGRAM aims to provide professionals in the Latin American port sector with on-site access to the expert knowledge developed in the Port of Santander in areas that represent its strengths, thus contributing to the improvement of their training, acquisition of new skills, etc.

ACADEMIC PRACTICES

Supervised training of students in real work contexts is essential for their academic and personal development, as well as their future professional performance. Internships represent a particular learning situation in which students have the opportunity to apply and complement the knowledge acquired in their studies, as well as make their first contact with the working world.

The Port Authority of Santander collaborates with educational institutions in this training work by providing students with different levels and educational backgrounds the opportunity to carry out internships in various functional and operational areas of the Port of Santander.