PORTEL was established in 1995, and from the beginning, was owned by ‘Puertos del Estado’ (51%) and TELEFONICA (49%). ‘Puertos del Estado’ is the Spanish National Entity for Ports. The Authority ‘Puertos del Estado’ is a public body depending on the Ministry of Development & Infrastructures of Spain with global responsibilities over the entire state-owned port system, responsible for the implementation of the government's port policy and the coordination and control of the port system efficiency. This investment will expand the portfolio of GTD, in Engineering services and Telecommunication Systems. Up today, GTD has been mainly focused on the aerospace and defense sectors. GTD employs about 300 engineers, and has customers in over 15 countries and has subsidiaries in France, Germany and South America. PORTEL, a technological reference in the maritime & port market Portel covers ICT services from the supply and commissioning of complete platforms for the management ports, up to technologies and products for Maritime Traffic Control. Portel is also a spetialist in delivering computer-based solutions for monitoring and controlling the majority of freight traffic in the major ports of Spain. Their customers are both the Ports of State Agency, as the Local Port Authority or the different agents of each port community. PORTEL has offices in Madrid, Algeciras, Tarragona and through a subsidiary, in PORTEL Eixo (Vigo). It is also a shareholder in the company’s Infoport (Valencia) and Serviport (Sevilla). For GTD, this acquisition represents an excellent opportunity to spin-off its proper technology developed within the aerospace environments into the new challenges of modernization in the merchant navy and ports segment. GTD and PORTEL will jointly offer modern solutions to support and optimize maritime navigation, to improve maritime safety and to enable processes automation in ports. To reach this target, they will initiate common R&D actions, mainly oriented to the creation of new platforms in line with the future European Maritime Legislation in the field of shipping and port management. They will develop, as well, Electronic Equipments for real-time tracking of the shipped cargo, from origin to destination port. The maritime port sector is one of the fastest growing globally, particularly in emerging markets and developing countries. Portel’s huge experience gained in the Spanish market, together with the fundamental support of ‘Puertos del Estado’ , and the exporting experience of GTD Group, all together will drive PORTEL towards the export market. Already, today we are launching the first commercial operations in Morocco, Guatemala and Brazil.
