FERROL, THE PORT THAT SAILS IN THE GLOBAL FUTURE
By Alberto Barciela / Vice President of EditoRed
The city resembles a stranded ship, beautifully sheltered from the complicit sea. Like its region, it is located on a peninsula of whimsical shapes exuberant in delicate beauty. It represents a jewel enconfrada in its own gallant estuary, in its great and disguised history, in its subtle intention to converge with the avant-garde with the prudence of those who know the evils of progress, the twisted vicissitudes of becoming and the very need to remain alert to the worldliness of the global exhausting, demanding, almost unmanageable.
Ferrol is a haven of peace in the oceanic immensity, which hides like a shy figurehead of the technological vanguard. It is the most beautiful port, armed, merchant or fishing, that a navy could have dreamed of, with a deep-rooted culture, and a university that reflects the social eagerness for progress. All of this is intermingled in an environment of subtle, sweet landscapes, of fine sandy beaches, “rolled” by waves that are as impetuous as they are generous with bathers, surfers, windsurfers or strollers, which have left room for the carpenters and the most advanced and hard-working shipyards, the Navy installations or the fortified castles of San Felipe and La Palma, or the docks of transatlantic liners and fishing boats.
The location of the city, in the northern part of a wide inlet, facing the Atlantic Ocean, makes the capital of Northwest Galicia enjoys an oceanic climate, with mild temperatures throughout the year and abundant rainfall in autumn and winter and sunny summers, highlighting the typical coastal fog in summer. A privileged climatic refuge, a natural paradise. A world fits in this city in constant transformation, of narrow streets, coquettish squares, profuse parks and houses with galleries that look for the light and that seem embroidered in architectures not excessive, and museums, and theaters, and the most pious and beautiful processions in Holy Week, and Las Pepitas and… the gastronomy… and docks, of course.
Everything in the departmental city revolves around the sea, the port, the sea, the Marina… And everything is illuminated with the iodized light of a history, sometimes confusing, that like the tides has had and enjoys its flows, episodes of calm and stormy, calm and convulsive, glorious moments and other critical, always decisive, in an indissoluble bond of blue-green chiaroscuros, under which citizens have been able to develop an intelligent way of being and understanding the world: friendly, cosmopolitan and that, not infrequently, claims its own local expression, in that delight that is the filispin, to find the opportune grace, the nuance, to the circumstance not always easy and to the external influences. Today it lives one of its best moments, under the inspired mandate of a King Varela, who tries to emulate the merits of Carlos III.
Villa assez fort (‘quite strong’) according to the medieval chronicler Jean Froissart, Ferrol’s notoriety as a port enclave was already highlighted by the Andalusian Juan de Molina when he wrote about Ferrol in his Descripción del Reyno de Galizia y de las cosas notables por las que “el puerto de Ferrol se tiene por uno de los más seguros de mundo”, highlighting its special aptitude for ship docking.
With discretion and tenacious work, the Port of Ferrol plays a decisive role in the economy of the city and the region, and it has become a beacon for the future of Galicia and Spain in aspects such as renewable energies – I would like to point out the relevant role of NAVANTIA, in offshore wind energy, or REGANOSA, a Galician company dedicated to the transport and regasification of natural gas, which bases its work on safety criteria and respect for the environment, or so many other companies, large or small, engineering or dedicated to environmental protection, which are turning the area into a “Silicon Valley”.
Following this unstoppable trail, the Outer Port has become this week a European reference in the import of electric cars by the Chinese giant BAIC (Beijing Automotive Industry Holding), which will develop a center in the wide dock in alliance with Atium Logistic Group, based in Bergondo (A Coruña), for the reception and distribution of the different car models of the premium electric brand Arcfox. According to the figures advanced by the executive director of the brand, Zheng Fang, at the signing ceremony of the agreement with the President of the Port Authority Ferrol-San Cibriao, Francisco Barea, the goal is to grow gradually and already “receive 8,000 vehicles in 2025” for sale in the Old Continent.
Ferrol is sailing through the channels of modernity, towards the avant-garde, and faithful to its history is committed to gaining a space in the global world. Perhaps it is necessary to make a Filipino-Chinese dictionary to learn from the audacity of the real time understanding of the new times. The ship goes while the city seems to remain stranded in its eternal paradise and transforms itself.
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