The Bureau of the Parliament of Catalunya has visited Port Tarragona. Its members were received by the president of the Port Authority of Tarragona, Santiago J. Castellà, and other representatives of the port entity. The visit served to explain to the parliamentary representatives the transformation that the Port Authority of Tarragona is promoting to make the port a benchmark logistics hub in the entire northeastern peninsula and a top-level intermodal enclave in the European landscape through key infrastructures such as the Boella and Guadalajara-Marchamalo intermodal terminals or the Guadalajara-Marchamalo of Andalusia. Emphasis was also placed on the fundamental role the port will play in the reindustrialization of Catalunya thanks to its Logistics Activities Zone (ZAL) and the strategy for the Catalan floating offshore wind hub was highlighted.
The president of the Port Authority of Tarragona outlined the port’s present and future strategic lines, focused on reinforcing its role as a benchmark logistics center both in Spain, in the Mediterranean, and in the entire European continent, without forgetting the role that the port facility has as an economic engine of Catalonia and as a cohesive agent for the metropolitan region of Tarragona.
In this sense, Santiago Castellà stressed the role that Port Tarragona is already playing in the reindustrialization of the territory through the development of the Logistics Activities Zone. The availability of land and rail-port connections make the ZAL one of the most attractive logistics spaces in Catalonia for attracting investments in emerging sectors of the new economy, such as the establishment of companies linked to electric vehicles, semiconductors, or batteries.
Rail-port intermodality
During the meeting, other essential projects for the growth of the Tarragona infrastructure were presented, such as the PortTarragona Terminal Guadalajara-Marchamalo, which is pending reception, or the future multipurpose terminal for containers and general cargo that will be put out to tender in the coming months. These two infrastructures, together with the Boella intermodal terminal, will offer highly competitive rail-port intermodality options, opening a wide range of opportunities for companies in the territory.
The members of the Bureau of the Parliament also showed interest in Port Tarragona’s strategy to be one of the hubs for the construction, assembly, and logistics of the wind turbines that will make up the future offshore wind farms in the Western Mediterranean. The country-level dimension that the project has acquired was highlighted, as well as the port’s capacity to cohesively bring together the multiple actors involved in this activity thanks to the organization of the first ‘Catflowe’ Forum and the commitment to dedicate new port spaces, such as the expansion of the Balears Wharf, to a high value-added activity.
Emphasis was also placed on other relevant actions currently being carried out by the Port Authority of Tarragona, such as the renaturalization of the Els Prats d’Albinyana area, in Vila-seca, included within the protection zone of the Natura 2000 Network.
This intervention, which affects an area of 37 hectares, has been carried out in Catalonia over the last 20 years.
Participating in this institutional visit were the President of the Parliament of Catalonia, Josep Rull; the First Secretary, Gloria Freixa i Vilardell; the Third Secretary, Rosa Maria Ibarra Ollé; and the Fourth Secretary, Judit Alcalá González. On behalf of the Port Authority, accompanying President Castellà were the Director, Josep M. Maceira; the Deputy Director, Ramón I. García; the Head of the Operations Area, Carles Segura; the Head of the External Relations and Port-City Department, Joan M. Basora; and the Head of the President’s Office, Marta Virgili. After signing the Port of Tarragona’s Book of Honor and the institutional meeting, the members of the Parliament’s Bureau took a boat tour of the port to see the port facility from the water.
