Port-wide adoption across Spain's major ports

The client

A company operating in the maritime sector approached Unlock Management with an ambitious initiative: bringing a new operational innovation to Spanish ports. The project had strong technical foundations but needed a GTM strategy capable of navigating a complex, relationship-driven sector.

The challenge

Spanish ports operate within a structured institutional framework. Decision-making is distributed across port authorities, operators, and national bodies — each with different priorities and timelines. The client had a compelling proposition but lacked the local network and stakeholder strategy to break through.

Previous attempts to engage port authorities had stalled at early conversations. What was needed wasn’t more outreach volume — it was the right positioning, the right sequence of conversations, and a credible narrative for each stakeholder tier.

What we built

A structured stakeholder engagement programme covering:

• Mapping of key decision-making units across the major Spanish port authorities
• Positioning the initiative around national competitiveness and operational efficiency — framing that resonated with both port operators and oversight bodies
• A sequenced outreach strategy that built advocacy at operational level before escalating to executive and institutional stakeholders
• Supporting materials tailored per stakeholder type: technical briefings for operations, impact summaries for leadership

The result

The initiative was adopted by most of Spain’s major ports. Implementation is now fully operational and delivering measurable results across participating locations — making this one of the broadest port-level rollouts of its kind in the country.