We met Raphael Company Director of Safety and Security Valenciaport Foundation, Spain and part of the Horizon Europe project TRANSCEND.
TRANSCEND project (Transport Resilience against Cyber and Non-Cyber Events to prevent Network Disruption) aims to equip freight transport operators with an integrated set of tools, guidelines and technological solutions to enhance protection, reduce risk and improve resilience to various threats, both physical and cyber. TRANSCEND aims to strengthen resilience not just on freight transport, but across the entire ecosystem of interconnected infrastructures through AI-driven predictive models and real-world pilot actions at major EU transport hubs.
The main concept developed in TRANSCEND is a modular Control Tower, a digital platform with embedded business intelligence to operationally implement policy measures and continuously monitor threats and risks. By combining multiple data streams collected from various sources, the platform aims to provide a better understanding of the current situation and potential risks, to monitor and to enhance of ecosystem resilience, particularly in contexts where cargo integrity, rerouting, and infrastructure security are critical.
Ben Lane:
Hello Raphael. We are looking forward to seeing you at Critical Infrastructure Protection & Resilience Europe (CIPRE) conference in Brindisi, October 14-16, 2025 where you will be speaking in the Maritime & Port Sector Symposium: https://www.cipre-expo.com/session/maritime-port-sector-symposium/
Raphael Company:
Looking forward to seeing you all at the conference. Thank you.
Ben Lane:
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your role at Valenciaport Fundación?
Raphael Company:
My name is Raphael Company, and I am the director of Safety and Security at the Valenciaport Fundación, which is the Research and Development Center of the Port of Valencia. Our aim is to identify and implement the best technologies and solutions to develop a sustainable, secure, and smart port.
Ben Lane:
What are the biggest challenges the Port of Valencia is finding to its security and protection?
Raphael Company:
There are three similar challenges related to cyber and physical threats. First, there is an increasing digitalization of port operations that expose critical infrastructure to cyber-attacks, including malware, ransomware, and data breaches that can impact port facilities. Second, is how to avoid smuggling. Ports are vulnerable to cargo theft and the smuggling of illicit goods, which can disrupt global supply chains and pose economic and security risks. And finally, we are experiencing emerging threats from drones. The proliferation of drone technology poses new security risks, including surveillance issues and potential delivery of contraband. So, these will be the three main challenges among others that we have at this moment at the port.
Ben Lane:
Okay. So, you mention drones, which is a topic that we discuss very often, and will be discussed at CIPRE 2025 and it takes us onto the next point. Considering Valencia port’s recent steps such as introducing anti-drone systems, and enhancing border security under European-funded projects, what would you identify as best practices for infrastructure protection at the port?
Raphael Company:
At Valenciaport, practices for infrastructure protection include a layered security approach combined with physical and digital measures, integration of innovative technologies such as anti-drone systems, as you mentioned, close collaboration with European partners – it is very important to maintain cooperation between different partners, including universities, technological centers, other ports, of course, and external resilience planning to ensure safe and continuous operation.
Ben Lane:
You are also part of the TRANSCEND Project, which is a Horizon Europe project. Could you tell us what about this project and the goals the project has?
Raphael Company:
The TRANSCEND Project aims to provide freight transport operators with integrated tools, guidelines, and technological solutions to reduce risk and enhance the protection and resilience of the critical infrastructure against physical, cyber, and bad-actor threats. To this end, the project will provide a digital platform, or the control tower, which will make use of innovative technologies to give stakeholders share and continuous visibility of threats and risk by breaking down barriers within and between organizations to demonstrate effectiveness of the approach.
The five critical infrastructures represented in the project are core infrastructures part of at least one Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) and are in geographically diverse European regions. Three different critical infrastructure pilots will be implemented with methodological and technological solutions in Luxembourg airports, a railroad terminal in Bologna, a trimodal port pilot implementation in Valencia. Two participants in the project, represented by the fluvial port of Budapest and the highway in northern Greece, will investigate to what extent the solutions developed by the three leading pilots can be transferred to their specific context and challenges. So, as you can see there are different pilots to demonstrate the results that we are developing within the project.
Ben Lane:
And how long does the project run for?
Raphael Company:
It is a three-year project, and these pilots will be developed or executed during the last year of the project.
Ben Lane:
So, you are about halfway through the project now?
Raphael Company:
That is correct.
Ben Lane:
And what is Valenciaport’s involvement with the project?
Raphael Company:
Well, the key role of Valenciaport Foundation is to lead the Spanish element for pilot implementation. The pilot will test and validate innovative technologies, identify and develop them during the project in relation to physical and cyber threat detection. The goal is to improve the resilience of this multimodal transport between Valencia and Zaragoza by detecting a coordinated cyber and physical attack aimed at disrupting trade and port operations.
Ben Lane:
As the project unfolds, who will be the main beneficiaries, and what are the benefits they will receive because of these pilots and the project itself?
Raphael Company:
The project will support critical infrastructure tools for its operator and supply chain actors by enhancing early threat detection throughout by improving security measures and procedures. The guidelines and tools developed will also help them comply with the new European Critical Entities Resilience Directive and the next two directives.
Ben Lane:
Thank you and we look forward to seeing you in Brindisi and hearing more about the projects you are working on.
Raphael Company:
Thank you very much.
Read more about the TRANSCEND project at:
Website: https://www.transcend-logistics.eu/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/transcend-project-logistics/
X: https://x.com/TRANSCENDEU_