Infrastructure - Why?

A connected city with world-class infrastructure

With a vast network of air, sea and land routes, plus a state-of-the-art digital infrastructure, Porto ensures excellent accessibility to all parts of the World.

Thanks to its compact urban structure as well as the clustering of some of Portugal’s main export industries around Porto, the city benefits from close proximity to all modes of passenger and freight transport, with the area’s main transport hubs located within 10 to 30 minutes from Porto’s historic centre and the city’s central business district. ith world-class infrastructure.

Fly from Porto’s award-winning international airport

Porto International Airport is the fastest-growing airport in Portugal and one of the highest quality airports in Europe.

The airport has been distinguished multiple times by Airport Councils International’s Airport Service Quality Survey as one of Europe’s Best Mid-Sized Airports (5-15 million passengers per year).

It hosts regular flights to 110 destinations in Europe, North America, Middle East and Africa, including major international hubs, such as Paris, Frankfurt and Dubai.

Flights take on average 3 hours or less to reach other major EU cities.

Passenger numbers more than doubled over the last 6 years, reaching over 13 million in 2019. The airport is currently expanding its capacity to be able to serve 20 million passengers per year by 2020.

Sources: Airports Council International - ASQ Awards 2006-2018; INE - Movimento de passageiros nos aeroportos nacionais 2019; ANA Aeroportos de Portugal.

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Access a highly competitive multipurpose seaport on the Atlantic coast

Located just outside the inner-city, the port of Leixões is one of largest, most efficient and competitive multipurpose ports of the Iberian Peninsula.

It’s the main harbour for Portuguese industrial exports, handling 25% of Portuguese seaborne foreign trade and exporting to over 180 countries.

Port facilities include two container terminals, which are undergoing expansion works that will gradually increase total capacity to 1.5 million TEUs per year by 2025.

The new Porto Cruise Terminal has won multiple international prizes of architecture and design, including Building of the Year 2017 by ArchDaily International, and People's Choice 2016 by AZ Awards.

Leixões harbour infrastructure features a 60-hectare logistics platform, located 10 km from Porto’s city centre, that connects cargo flows to Portugal’s extensive road network, to the Atlantic railway corridor of the Trans-European core rail network, and to Porto International Airport situated just 2 km away.

The JUP service is an eHub web application that connects traders, ships, customs, port authorities and all other relevant agents to provide an efficient one-stop-shop for all necessary exchanges of information.

Sources: Autoridade da Mobilidade e dos Transportes - O Tra?fego Mari?timo de Mercadorias no Contexto da Intermodalidade 2018; YILPORT Leixões.

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Urban mobility is reliable, affordable and eco-friendly

The public transport system of Porto combines metro, tram, train and bus networks that cover the entire Porto Metropolitan Area. The city also serves as the major passenger transport hub for Northern Portugal.

Porto’s public transportation boasts the highest level of user satisfaction in Portugal according to the European Customer Satisfaction 2018 Index for Portuguese public transport systems.

It runs as a single intermodal system combining the routes of all network operators within Porto’s Metropolitan Area: STCP (bus), Metro do Porto (metro train), CP (suburban train) and other local providers.

"Andante” contactless tickets are valid for any route inside the transport network. A full-price public transport pass is highly affordable, costing 30 to 40 euros per month.

Porto’s metro network has six independent lines, 81 stations and a total extension of 67 km. Construction works, set to start in 2020, will add new lines and expand the metro’s total extension to 72 km.

Metro do Porto won the Light Rail Award 2008 and the Veronica Rudge Green in Urban Design 2013. Its stations were designed by local Pritzker Architecture Prize winner, Souto Moura.

Porto is served by two major train stations: Campanhã station for suburban, long-distance and international connections to other cities in Portugal and Spain; and S. Bento station for suburban trains connecting the outer city of Porto Metropolitan Area.

The new Campanhã Intermodal Transport Terminal will further improve interconnectivity between all mobility solutions for both short and long-distance travelling from Porto. The terminal, which is expected to become operational in 2021, will become a key interface in Northern Portugal’s passenger transport system.

The city government is committed to making urban mobility more sustainable to cut Porto’s CO2 emissions to half by 2030. Thanks to Porto’s metro system and the new electric bus fleet of 390 vehicles, the city has already reduced CO2 emissions considerably.

Sources: ECSI Portugal - Índice Nacional de Satisfação do Cliente 2018; TIP - Transportes Intermodais do Porto; Câmara Municipal do Porto.

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Linked to the world by a state-of-the-art digital infrastructure

Porto offers easy access to a highly advanced ICT infrastructure for all businesses and people.

The city is home to a fast-emerging, export-oriented ICT cluster and to thriving communities of developers, entrepreneurs and early-adopters.

Portugal has the 4th best ultrafast broadband coverage in Europe and the 6th best communications technology in the world according to IMD’s World Digital Competitiveness 2017 and 2018 rankings.

8 out 10 of investors find Porto’s telecom infrastructure attractive according to a international survey conducted by EY in 2019.

Porto was selected to spearhead the European Commission’s strategy for Connected and Automated cross-border Mobility (CAM). The city is at the centre of the biggest EU-backed experiment of 5G technology, which will be testing one of the three first 5G Corridors for automated driving in Europe. Tests of vehicle-to-everything 5G infrastructure in the highways linking Porto to Vigo in Spain will be running from 2019 to 2021.

Excellent telecom network with high levels of investment in R&D, accessibility and connectivity.

Porto features the world’s largest public bus wi-fi network, providing hundreds of free internet hotspots scattered around the city.

Portugal has one of the best fibre optic FTTH networks in Europe.

Internet access for all: privacy protection and freedom for web users without any commercial or political discrimination.

Portuguese are early technology adopters:

the first to have a pre-paid mobile card;

pioneered the electronic highway toll collection system (Via Verde);

innovative ATM network: users are able to perform multiple operations for free, such as buy cinema tickets, train tickets, pay taxes, etc.

Portugal has been cited by the United Nations as a case study in e-Government best practices.

Sources: IMD - World Digital Competitiveness Ranking 2017 & 2018; EY Attractiveness Survey 2019 - Portugal Regional; European Commission.

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