Use of a Delphi Panel to Determine the Degree of Implementation of Blue Economy in Spanish Ports

Abstract

Environmental concerns have become important in the shipbuilding industry. The concept of the Blue Economy was linked to a new model of economic development based on regeneration, where the production of waste is seen as the possibility of creating a new activity, product, and employment. Nowadays, when we talk about the Blue Economy, it is from a much more transversal perspective, deeply linked to the maritime economic sectors. The aim is to develop these coastal productive sectors from a socially, economically and environmentally sustainable point of view. Due to the great development that the Blue Economy has experienced in recent years, it is considered appropriate to carry out a study of this economic model in the port sector. For this reason, this article analyses the Spanish port system, determining the most important dimensions for measuring the degree of development of the Blue Economy and indicators for each of them. It is concluded that the main emerging sectors in the Blue Economy are biotechnology, research and education, sustainable infrastructures and gastronomy and tradition. The final result of this article is the development of a tool which, by introducing certain data, provides the degree of implementation or development of the Blue Economy both at a general level for the port and at a specific level for each dimension.