​The Port Authority of the Bay of Algeciras will invest €253 million until 2024

• Gerardo Landaluce: "In 2021 we aim to recover the pre-pandemic traffic"
• Puertos del Estado and the Port Authority agree to maintain the correction coefficients for ship, passenger and cargo rates at a value of 0.90 for 2021.
  
   
  
   

6-11-2020 (Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda) The President of Puertos del Estado, Francisco Toledo, conducted a working meeting, via videoconference, with Gerardo Landaluce and José Luis Hormaechea, President and Director, respectively, of the Port Authority of the Bay of Algeciras, in which they agreed on the 2020-2024 Business Plan, a period in which more than €253 million of public investment and approximately 240 of private investment will be invested.

The President of Puertos del Estado promised to promote the files for the extension of the concession period presented through the APBA, in order to attract private investment for the environment of the Bay of Algeciras.

Among the approved investments, the actions to increase the draught in the quays and those oriented towards passenger traffic in the Galera Quay and its surroundings to optimize its functionality stand out. The Environmental Sustainability and Energy Efficiency projects are also noteworthy, as well as those destined for port-city actions, especially the chapter destined for the development of the so-called Llano Amarillo (Yellow Plain).

In the matter of the port railway, Gerardo Landaluce expressed the commitment of the Port of Algeciras with the impulse of the Algeciras-Zaragoza "Railway Highway" . On the Algeciras-Bobadilla-Córdoba-Madrid line, the 17.4 million euros programmed through the Financial Fund for Land Accessibility in Ports for signalling and the construction of 750-metre lay-bys on the Algeciras-Bobadilla section has been highlighted.

Both entities agreed to raise with European bodies the need to take into account the specificity of European ports with a high level of transhipment traffic, in relation to decisions that may be taken in the European Green Pact, so that European logistics supply chains do not lose competitiveness.

Concerning the port traffic, the APBA plans to recover the pre-pandemic traffic in 2021.

In economic terms, the port will cease to pay almost €15 million in passenger charges in 2020 due to the constraints imposed as a result of Covid. However, during this financial year the Port Authority has amortised the outstanding debt it had with the European Investment Bank and does not envisage external financing in the 2021-2024 period. Puertos del Estado and the Port Authority have agreed to maintain the correction coefficients for ship, passenger and cargo charges at a value of 0.90 for 2021, thus supporting the companies operating in the Port of Algeciras. Pursuant to this, the President of Puertos del Estado thanked the Port Authority for the sensitivity shown to the port community by not increasing the rates despite the great loss of income.