Port Vell

America's Cup Barcelona 2024

From August 22nd to October 19th, Port de Barcelona hosted the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup.
The event had a significant economic impact and strengthened the brand image of Barcelona, Catalonia, and the Port on a global scale.
Additionally, it left a high-value legacy for the future in the areas of port-city relations, nautical activities, innovation, research, technology, and circular economy.

What is the America's Cup?

It is the oldest international competition in the world, the third most impactful sports event globally, and the most prestigious challenge between yacht clubs worldwide.

In the 37^th edition of the America’s Cup, six teams participated: Emirates Team New Zealand (Defender); the British INEOS Britannia (Challenger of Record), the Swiss Alinghi Red Bull Racing, the Italian Luna Rossa Pirelli Prada Team, the American NYYC American Magic, and the French Orient Express Racing Team (Challengers).

After emerging as winners in Barcelona, Emirates Team New Zealand is the current title defender. As the current holder of the Cup, they will choose the venue and organize the 38th America’s Cup.

Official site of the Louis Vuitton 37th America's Cup organization

The America's Cup in numbers

The positive impact of organizing the Louis Vuitton 37th America's Cup in Barcelona

Promoting the transformation of the Port Vell

Up to 25 actions were carried out at Port Vell, worth €120 million. Unlike other editions, no new infrastructures were built: existing ones were revamped and transformed.

Socioeconomic impact

It involved the creation of thousands of jobs and generated considerable productive activity for the city. All of this was achieved with minimal investment from the Port Authority of Barcelona.

Brand Barcelona, Catalonia and Port

The estimated audience were 1.2 billion people on TV and 10 million more via live streaming, in addition to hundreds of millions of RSS impacts. More than 600 media covered the America's Cup and the impact was enormous.

A sustainable America's Cup

One of the Port of Barcelona's premises for hosting the Louis Vuitton 37th America's Cup was that all actions and the impact of the teams' operations should be as sustainable as possible. A specific tool, Guideline, was used to set out the requirements that the teams had to follow at their bases:

. Analysis of their carbon footprint to offset CO2 emissions.
. Installation of solar panels on at least 20% of the roof surface of the bases.
. Reuse of all possible materials used in previous America's Cups .
. Water treatment and oil separation
. Bioclimatic construction specifications

Sustainability at the Port of Barcelona

Hydrogen project

One of the technological impacts of the Louis Vuitton 37^th America's Cup was directly related to Chase Zero, the competition's hydrogen-powered auxiliary boat. Port de Barcelona set up a hydrogen supply point at moll de les Drassanes - moll de Barcelona to service it. The installation was the first step on the road to boosting e-sports sailing and servicing sailboats using this alternative fuel.

The planned installation consisted of the following elements:

Hydrogen storage platform: semi-trailer vehicle with pressurized cylinders (200 bar) for hydrogen storage. Total storage volume was of 27,000 liters.
Hydrogen supplier: consisting of a hydrogen dispenser with hose and integrated control system.

During the Louis Vuitton 37^th America's Cup, a hydrogen supply point was installed to serve 10 boats (one for each team, plus four for the organization).

Port de Barcelona is already actively participating in several initiatives to promote the use of hydrogen as a green fuel. At the global level, it is part of two working groups of the World Ports Climate Action Program on Onshore Power Supply (OPS) and new zero-emission propulsion fuels.

At the state level, it is a member of the Iniciativa Tecnológica Prioritaria the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities and, lastly, it participates in the Taula de l’Hidrogen de Catalunya together with more than 150 companies and organizations.

Presentación del acuerdo entre la Copa América, la Generalitat de Catalunya y el Port para impulsar el uso del hidrógeno como combustible sostenible para la navegación, ante la presencia del Chase Zero.

Caption

Presentation of the agreement between the America's Cup, the Generalitat de Catalunya and the Port to promote the use of hydrogen as a sustainable fuel for sailing, in the presence of Chase Zero (Emirates Team New Zealand).

America's Cup Experience

The Louis Vuitton 37th America's Cup can now be experienced in all its intensity by visiting the America's Cup Experience at the former IMAX complex.

Nautical bus

Future implementation of a nautical bus service between the Drassanes dock and the Nova Bocana area, to reinforce the connection between the city and the Port Vell areas.

Location of America's Cup team bases and spectator areas