Port accessThe start of the school year will coincide with a new edition of Ezagutu Portua, a programme which has been run by the Port Authority since 2014. The idea behind the programme is not only to enable people who live and/or work in the port area to discover the history of one of the key pieces of infrastructure that led to the birth and development of the city of Bilbao, but also to learn about the daily activity of this benchmark logistics and energy hub in the Atlantic arc, to find out about the different professions that work there, to gain an insight into the main types of traffic and the countries to which we export and import, and to better understand everything the Port is doing to contribute to a decarbonised, competitive, globally connected, innovative and responsible economy and society.
Visitors are taken by coach to see first-hand the terminals where the natural gas we use every day in our homes, the food sold in our supermarkets and the containers in which Basque industry exports its products to around 900 ports around the globe are loaded and unloaded. The tour itinerary also includes the plants from where the colossal wind turbine components manufactured in the port itself are shipped on customised vessels to all corners of the world, the large ships specialised in transporting oversized industrial machinery, the vessels designed to carry hundreds of lorries and trailers inside, the trains that arrive and depart from the port loaded with containers, and the ferry and cruise ship passenger terminals.
Visits for the general public are available on Saturdays and Sundays at 10.30 and last approximately two hours, taking in the port facilities in Santurtzi and Zierbena. To register for these free visits, simply fill in the form available on the Port Authority website. The programme also includes educational tours for vocational training and university students, as well as for schoolchildren aged 10 to 16. These guided tours for schools follow a constructive methodology and are participation-based, with alternative learning techniques used in the Port Authority classroom and during the coach tour of the port facilities and the surrounding area.
Explanations are given in line with the group’s prior knowledge, enabling those on the tour to better understand the reality of how the port operates by providing descriptive and comparative visual material, constructing history through logical reasoning and hands-on activities, and conducting simple scientific measurements. The programme includes free transport from the school to the port facilities and fun educational material for teachers to work with in the classroom prior to the visit, as well as material to reinforce certain concepts and ideas after the visit. Tours are available in both Basque and Spanish at ezagutuportua@bilbaoport.eus.
In the course of the 2024-25 academic year, more than 8,150 people visited the Port of Bilbao on the 281 guided tours organised through Ezagutu Portua. More specifically, 151 guided tours were run for schools, with 3,733 schoolchildren aged between 10 and 16 visiting the port and learning about various concepts related to transport, logistics and the environment, while 3,076 people took part in the 88 tours specifically run for university and vocational training students, with a view to raising awareness of the port’s activities and the options for developing a professional career in the port and logistics sector. Finally, the 42 guided tours organised at weekends brought together 1,345 people interested in learning about the reality of one of the Basque Country’s most internationally renowned sectors.
