2023-12-16 22:11:17
The claimed Unblocking of the construction of the new container terminal in the Port of Valencia -announced this past Thursday by the Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, and whose approval in the Council of Ministers will be made next Tuesday- will open many horizons of advancement for the Valencian economy. One of the most notable will be the boost that this new facility, the largest in the Mediterranean, will provide for the development of foreign trade, thereby also being a key piece -thanks to the expansion that will increase its capacity- to overcome Algeciras in the historic battle between the two to be the main port in Spain in terms of container movement.
Not in vain, the latest data offered by Puertos del Estado on how the loading and unloading of merchandise is behaving in the different maritime facilities of the country show how The Cadiz enclave has accumulated 3.96 million TEUS so far this year (containers equivalent to 20 feet or six meters in length), almost the same data that adds up to now the Valencian with 3.99 million TEUS. However, the arrival at those records has been considerably different. While the Valencian port has suffered a considerable blow this year both in container transit (-6.2% to 1.94 million TEUS) and in the combination of this plus the volume of export and import operations ( 8.5% drop) compared to 2022, Algeciras has withstood the challenge better.
Geographic differences
The privileged geostrategic location of the Andalusian port for the transit of transoceanic routes that connect Southeast Asia with the Atlantic coast of the American continent has allowed the volume of containers in transit that passes through Algeciras, a predominant element in its figures, to have only been reduced by 0.7% to 3.30 million TEUS. With that minor drop, The threat is that it could end up closing the year with better records than that of Valenciathus breaking a trend between both that has mostly been favorable to the Grao facilities.
In that context of tight ‘battle’, the new terminal that is expected to be ready by 2029 It will be a key infrastructure to be able to tip the balance. Not in vain, it will have the capacity to house five million containers per year on its surface area of 136 hectares, which will raise the total volume that the facility is capable of handling up to 12 million TEUS per year. Furthermore, this increase in capacity will be accompanied by another advantage such as the possibility of state-of-the-art vessels, those known as ‘Megamax’, can operate in the Port of Valencia and, thanks to this, attract greater merchandise traffic..
Climate uncertainty
All this, yes, always with an open focus of uncertainty. Because In less than a month, on January 1, 2024, the ‘Europe Trading System’, a new system of environmental fees in ports promoted by the European Union (EU), will come into force. where firms in the shipping sector will be charged a certain emission right depending on the distance they travel with their ships.
A cost that, in addition to It could mean between 300,000 and 400,000 euros of extra economic impact for each stopover that a ship makes in facilities on the Old Continent.the sector fears that it could lead to a diversion of traffic to other ports exempt from this regulation like the one in Tangieran option that if confirmed would undoubtedly hinder the expected success of the new terminal.
Mazón asks to process the expansion “urgently”
The Government’s ‘yes’ to the new terminal at the Port of Valencia continued generating reactions on the political and business level this Friday. One of the first to do so was the president of the Generalitat, Carlos Mazón, who requested that the works for the expansion be carried out “urgently.” “The mechanism of the contract law allows us to take the emergency route when it is a matter of public interest or urgent need. I believe that in the Port of Valencia, the urgent need and public interest are met,” defended the head of the Consell, who called for “shortening the deadlines as much as possible.”
For her part, the Government delegate, Pilar Bernabé, pointed out that Pedro Sánchez’s Executive is committed to the “inalienable development” of the port – although she did not want to assess either Compromís’ rejection of the decision or whether there are differences between PSOE and Sumar. in this regard – and that this expansion “contributes to the work that the Port Authority of Valencia has been doing to eliminate the carbon footprint” of the facility. In a similar vein, the general secretary of the PSPV, Ximo Puig, defended the “special sensitivity” that the central government has with the Valencian Community and called Mazón’s words “absolutely false and ridiculous,” pointing out that Sánchez’s Executive “does not “It entered into the equation of the future” of autonomy.
“Benefit” for Spain and Europe
Beyond politicians, this Friday the president of the Valencian Business Confederation (CEV), Salvador Navarro, once again stressed that the new terminal will be an investment for the Valencian Community and a “benefit” for both Spain and Europe. And he recalled that the port represents “3% of the GDP” and creates about 50,000 jobs “in peripheral neighborhoods” of the capital of Turia such as Malvarrosa, Cabanyal and Nazaret.
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