IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v17y2025i8p3392-d1632279.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Optimizing Sustainable Port Logistics in Spanish Ports with Emerging Technologies

Author

Listed:
  • Nicoletta González-Cancelas

    (Department of Transport, Territorial and Urban Planning Engineering, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain)

  • Jean Pierre Celso Palacios Calzada

    (Department of Transport, Territorial and Urban Planning Engineering, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain)

  • Javier Vaca-Cabrero

    (Department of Transport, Territorial and Urban Planning Engineering, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain)

  • Alberto Camarero-Orive

    (Department of Transport, Territorial and Urban Planning Engineering, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain)

Abstract

Maritime transport is essential to global trade, but port activities have a substantial environmental impact. This study develops and applies a structured evaluation framework—combining SWOT-CAME (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats–Correct, Adapt, Maintain, and Explore) analysis with Delphi Panel validation—to assess the digital transformation readiness of Spanish ports and to prioritize strategic actions that align emerging technologies with sustainability and operational objectives. Through expert-driven analysis, this study identifies and ranks strategic factors across four categories: strengths-opportunities (SO), strengths-threats (ST), weaknesses-opportunities (WO), and weaknesses-threats (WT). Among the highest priority actions are strengthening cybersecurity, implementing workforce training in digital competencies, and promoting public–private collaboration to support technology adoption. The resulting strategic map provides port authorities with a practical decision-making tool that supports the integration of technologies such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, and the Metaverse in alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Future research could further explore the cost-effectiveness and long-term sustainability impact of these digitalization strategies.

Suggested Citation

  • Nicoletta González-Cancelas & Jean Pierre Celso Palacios Calzada & Javier Vaca-Cabrero & Alberto Camarero-Orive, 2025. "Optimizing Sustainable Port Logistics in Spanish Ports with Emerging Technologies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(8), pages 1-24, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:8:p:3392-:d:1632279
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/8/3392/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/8/3392/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:8:p:3392-:d:1632279. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.