The renewed call for tenders by the Port of Barcelona Management Board for the construction and operation of the future cruise terminal at Adossat wharf follows on the heels of a recent municipal government election, which saw the former administration – led for the past eight years by Ada Colau – replaced.
Rejected in March
The call for tenders had previously been approved by the management board in November 2022, but was rejected by the same port governing body last March following an analysis into the technical specifications.
During the election campaign, Colau and a deputy – Janet Sanz, the city's representative on the Port Authority's board – reneged on the agreement first penned in 2018, calling for a downsizing to five terminals plus further constraints on the number of cruise calls and passengers. Sanz was subsequently replaced by Laia Bonet.
Shore power and LNG
The future Terminal G will have an area under concession of over 54,000 square metres and a wharf line of 450 metres, making it suitable for receiving cruise ships up to 400 metres in length. The information is included in the technical specifications of the call for tenders, which indicate the successful tenderer must contribute significant turnaround port traffic (embarkation and/or disembarkation), which generates the most added value to the city. Cruise passengers resulting from turnarounds currently account for almost 60% of the port's total passenger numbers.
The call for tenders also stipulates the introduction of major environmental improvements like the use of renewable energy in the terminal or launching services to facilitate passenger mobility such as a bus service connecting the terminal with El Prat airport or Sants station. In the same vein, all vessels built after 2010 must connect to the power grid while docked and use shore power infrastructure, which is to be installed throughout the Adossat wharf. Ships docking at the wharf will also be able to refuel using LNG.
A step closer to moving cruise activity to Adossat wharf
Bringing Terminal G on stream will mark an important step towards finalising the full transfer of cruise activity to Adossat wharf, where all the cruise terminals will be concentrated, and which is further away from the city. This limit of seven terminals, all located on Adossat wharf, is one of the points included in the agreement signed in January 2018 between Port of Barcelona President Sixte Cambra and Barcelona Mayor Ada Colau to improve port-city integration.
The agreement envisages a series of actions to be completed by 2028 and will make it possible to better integrate the port into the city (the current North and South terminals of the World Trade Center will disappear and this area will be opened to the public), to increase the economic impact the sector generates in Barcelona and to improve the services offered to lines and passengers.
July 23 election
The outcome of Spain’s next general election, on July 23, could produce a reshuffling of government posts in Madrid, including oversight for Puertos del Estado, which oversees the Port of Barcelona.
The Port of Barcelona's current chairman was recently appointed.
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