In the picture
Roads and squares of the Roman Empire presented as a subway map [Sasha Trubetskoy].
PRESENTATION
Spain-Nexo
Spain's network of highways and freeways is a good sample of the effort made decades ago to have a country with a good internal statement and connected with Europe. More recently, the success story of the AVE has provided a similar development, in a territory with a complexity -due to its extension and its mountains- superior to the European average . Spain is not the isolated or isolating country it may have been until the first half of the 20th century, if we stick to land connections, which are the focus of this report (we leave aside the maritime routes, which are very important, in any case, in a nation with such a long coastline and seafaring vocation).
In a world of increasingly frequent and dense flows, Spain starts from a location that is not particularly favorable in principle, being at one end of the continent, but at the same time has sufficient conditions - some of them excellent - to act as a logistics hub: entrance in Europe for energy arriving by the Atlantic; rail, electricity or gas connector between the two shores of the western Mediterranean; intermodal exchanger for goods arriving by sea and going to the inland markets...
If last year we dedicated a report to the geopolitics of the Strait of Gibraltar, this time we focus on the opportunities offered to Spain by the geopolitics of connections, in its terrestrial aspect.
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION / Spain in the geopolitics of connections
ELECTRICITY / From insulator to conductor: Exceptionalism to be traded for greater international electrical connections
NATURAL GAS / The competitive advantage of regasification is reduced: Europe multiplies its plants due to Ukraine war.
TRAIN / The AVE has put Spain on the podium; now the challenge is integration with Europe in freight transport.
LOGISTIC NODES / Dry ports: Strengthening the potential of maritime flows from a peninsular country between continents
Evaluation.