​The new facilities will be able to welcome ships up to 290 metres in length and 140,000 TPM

The president of Puertos del Estado opens a new mooring dolphin at the Port of Carboneras

• According to Llorca, the new facilities will allow the port to improve its efficiency and competitiveness.
  
   

16-04-2018 (Ministry of Public Works). The President of Puertos del Estado, José Llorca, accompanied by the President of the Port Authority of Almeria, María del Carmen Ortiz, and the Mayor of Carboneras, Salvador Hernández, opened a new mooring dolphin at the Ribera I Dock at the Port of Carboneras today. The facility, which measures 18 metres deep and 51.8 metres long, will be able to provide service to ships of up to 140,000 TPM and 290 metres in length. The work, which took 16 months to complete, had a budget of €3 million, of which 80% was financed by ERDF community funds.

The president of Puertos del Estado said that thanks to this action, the Port of Carboneras will gain in efficiency and competitiveness and if, as is expected, in the future the new mooring dolphin can receive two ships simultaneously, the increase in this Port Authority's port traffic could maintain rates similar to those seen in the last year when it grew by 16.7%, exceeding 6.3 million tons.

The structure presents the same orientation as the current Ribera I Dock, separated by 88 metres. The mooring construction was designed as a structure of reinforced floating concrete boxes with anti-reflective chambers on the sea side.

Furthermore, closure of the esplanade at the southern end of the Ribera I Dock was carried out via construction of a submerged concrete wall of variable width to increase loading and unloading operations on the existing dock's line.

As this is an area exposed to swell and, in order to prevent the risk of washed concrete between the blocks of the embankment's main layer, these were gravelled with a breakwater. They were then protected with a breakwater of 1 ton and 10-ton blocks, which were those removed previously from the emerged area of the perimeter for the new esplanade generated.

In addition, during the visit to the port a review was performed of the work for "Road connection and control, Stage 1", which, with a budget of €309,000, has been financed by the Inter-Port Compensation Fund.

The work has included remodelling of the existing access point at the Port of Carboneras via installation of a canopy with lighting, signposting and a control booth, construction of a new access point to the port for use if required for the entry or exit of vehicles with exceptional dimensions, installation of an access control system with barriers and number plate readers, and installation of cameras on poles along the port's perimeter to complete the existing surveillance system.

Furthermore, an air quality sample station has been installed to control environmental parameters.