Profile: Capt Alfonso Salas Trujillo

Alfonso Salas: Coming through a crisis

Perhaps more than any other person in Colombia during the last 25 years, Capt Alfonso Salas Trujillo has been responsible for transforming the nation’s port sector and, in particular, the fortunes of the Port of Cartagena. Now, during challenges times for many organizations, Capt Salas offers his thoughts to Caribbean Maritime as he looks optimistically to a bright post-Covid-19 future for the Port of Cartagena – not only for its container operations, but also for its currently troubled cruise business.

Q. Where were you born and where did you grow up?

A. I grew up in Neiva, Colombia, the capital of the Department of Huila. A mid-size city located in southwestern Colombia.

Q. Where did you go to school and then to university? In which subject(s) did you graduate? 

A. I went to the Colombia Naval Academy in Cartagena, where I earned a degree in Naval Engineering, afterwards I went to the US Naval Academy in Monterrey California, where I studied Electrical Engineering.

Q. What was your first job upon leaving university? 

A. After my studies I became a naval officer, during which I held positions such as Private Secretary of Colombia’s Defense Minister and Commander of the Naval School Cadet Battalion. After the navy I went to work for the private sector, where I held executive positions in various companies such as the Bolívar Electrification Company and Vikingos S.A. 

Q. How long did you serve in the Armada Nacional de la Republica de Colombia?

A. 12 years.

Q. Why in 1993 were you attracted to join the newly formed Sociedad Portuaria Regional de Cartagena (SPRC), which at that time had a concession to take over the former state-controlled entity that previously ran the port?

A. Before 1993, ports in Colombia were controlled by the state-controlled entity Colpuertos. During this time, the port industry had problems and barriers that hindered the country's competitiveness and foreign trade: labor issues, poor infrastructure, non-existent information systems and bad practices.

We dreamed of having Colombian ports on the same level as other important ports in the world, and started a revolution in infrastructure, technology and a cultural transformation.

Q. A year later, you were appointed SPRC general manager. What challenges did you face upon your appointment and what were your plans to improve the port?

A. 25 years ago, we understood that the most important thing to transform our port, was to educate our people, and thanks to this, the port is what it is today.

Initial studies showed that the maximum volume that could be handled by the port did not exceed 300,000 containers. In 26 years of operation we have increased storage capacity and operational productivity; we have implemented the systematization and agility of procedures; likewise, we have established a state-of-the-art security strategy and promoted the city as the main point of attraction for cruise lines.

Today we are moving over 3 million containers, and we hope to reach 5 million in the coming years, with one common denominator: the talent of our people.

Q. Over the years, SPRC has consistently proved to be one of the Caribbean’s most productive and innovative ports. For example, winning the CSA’s coveted Port of the Year award on many occasions.  This seems to be a particular ambition, but has SPRC achieved its goal to become one of the world’s 30 most important ports? If not, how far away is SPRC from its target?

A. We continue to be inspired by the work we started in the 1990s to become the best port in the Caribbean. Being recognized by the Caribbean Shipping Association with its yearly award, and also being recognized by the UNCTAD as the number one port in Latin America in terms of connectivity and in mobilization of the country’s containerized cargo in the country is without a doubt a great achievement, but we will continue to work to become Colombia’s foreign trade platform.

The Fourth Revolution has challenged us to apply new technological trends to redesign our operational processes, reimagine our customer experience and develop new business models and to articulate organizational capacity towards a new phase of growth.

The axis of this process is people. People are the ones who transform business models, are able to create, innovate, build, invent, adapt, continue. Our greatest bet will continue to be people.

Q. In more general terms and in your personal view, what has Colombia got right as an economy over the last quarter century and compared with some of its better resourced neighboring nations?

A. Without a doubt the openness policy of the Colombian economy during the early 1990s. There is still work to be done to be able to be more competitive, increase our productivity and exports. We need to integrate Colombia into global value chains.

Q. What expansion plans to you have for SPRC and have these been affected by the current Covid-19 crisis?

A. The main thing is that we have taken a series of health measures to protect our people, that were necessary to avoid the spread of the virus and have allowed us to continue operating and executing our projects. The installation of 36 sinks at different points, temperature checks at the main doors to everyone who enters, permanent educational campaigns on prevention and protection for Covid-19, supply of masks, expansion of personnel transport routes and private transportation services for collaborators, so that the distance between people, among others, is maintained.

It is our duty to help maintain the health of our community and to preserve the standards and quality of the service. Reliability is everything.

This has been important for the economy of the country and the city.

From a commercial point of view, we have always had personalized work with clients, so that we listen to them, understand their specific needs and adapt the service accordingly.

Q. Sticking with the topicality of coronavirus, will this have any impact on SPRC’s total revenues in fiscal 2020 (that’s October 2019-September 2020) which were reported to be USD 2.59 billion in the previous financial year?

A. This is an unprecedented economic crisis, the effects of which over time have yet to be determined. Statistics and history are useless today.

Given the reduction in cargo flows, first from supply (production centres in China) and then from demand (consuming countries), many ships have had to cancel their sailings and reorganize their service networks in order to cut losses.

The situation affects some ports more than others. Everything depends on important variables such as connectivity, the size of the market of a country, and the operating conditions of a service (security, reliability, efficiency and productivity).

In that order, we believe that Cartagena will come out of this crisis well. We’ve recently announced the start of two new services representing approximately 600,000 additional containers per year. We view this with great optimism, considering that these volumes will offset others that will fall.

Q. Are you also expecting to see a decline in TEU throughput in 2020 and compared to previous years and, if so, how bad might any decline be?

A. It is still uncertain. We cannot yet estimate all the implications that this pandemic-induced crisis will generate. A recession will be inevitable, and we’ll see a lot of changes in different aspects, Covid-19 has speeded up the technological leap in many sectors, as we’ve seen in education, and a change in port and trade logistics will be no exception.

Some volumes will be added that will offset others that will fall. We are always optimistic, as complaining is useless. I’m sure that we will be able to innovate, reinvent ourselves and adapt to this new reality. The fourth industrial revolution was already prompting a change in the way our industry operates. New technologies imply a paradigm shift and with Covid-19 that change is further accelerated. The future is adapting to new circumstances, constantly innovating and continuing to do things well.

Q. How is the current collapse of the cruise shipping sector impacting SPRC and the wider city of Cartagena which apparently benefits from more than US$40 million a year in income from visiting passengers?

A. This situation has had significant impact in the cruise industry. Cruise lines have cancelled their operations, most ports continue with restrictions on passenger ships and the United States CDC maintains its No Sail Order until late July.

In Cartagena, the situation generated by Covid-19 led to an early termination of the 2019-2020 season, which signified 42 fewer calls and 76,493 fewer passengers, with and economic impact of US$ 11,675,277 according to the average spending per cruise passenger data of BREA.

The situation is quite negative for the destination. During the nine months of the cruise season, formal and informal employment benefits from tourism. The segment ranges from tourist guides, taxi drivers, handicraft sellers, palenqueras (fruit sellers), museums and attractions, tour operators, maritime agencies, commerce in general, among others, up to the supply of fruit and vegetables.

The cruise industry will face a challenge of repositioning and rescuing the negative image that has resulted from this situation, which will affect demand in the reactivation stage.

Q. Do you expect to see cruiseships returning to Cartagena during the course of this year and what steps would need to be taken locally to ensure that passengers could once again visit?

A. It is complex to make immediate projections considering that restrictions are still in force. Earlier this month cruise lines have announced that activities will be resumed between the months of June and July, however this depends on how each country handles their safety measures.

Despite this uncertainty, the Port of Cartagena continues to receive berth reservations for 2021 and 2022. In fact, 15 additional reservations have been received since March to date.

What is clear is that from now on the industry faces an important challenge in the way it operates. For example, without vaccines or effective treatments, older adults who comprise a high percentage of the target market for cruise lines, will have more restrictions and special conditions. Due to this, the profile of travellers will change.

Regarding the operation, we’ll see important adjustments in capacity, which should be reduced to guarantee compliance with biosafety and distancing protocols. Cruise lines are currently working on the protocols, but this will mean a reduction in their capacity, which will directly affect prices.

On land, it will also involve adjustments to comply with protocols that are already being carried out by tour operator agencies, attractions, etc.