The Council of Ministers plans to approve the authorization of the new northern container terminal project of the Port of Valencia this Tuesday, but will do so with a negative vote of representatives of the Board of Directors Sumar. Pedro Sánchez. After a year-long blockade, partly due to the holding of municipal, regional and general elections, the central government will give the green light to the construction of this huge infrastructure, as Minister Óscar Puente announced in Valencia last Thursday.
It will cost the public purse (Valencia Port Authority) 600 million dollars and the shipping company about 1,600 million dollars. M.S.C.The facility that will operate this facility, which is the largest in the Mediterranean with a surface area of 136 hectares and a capacity of 5 million containers; That is 70% more than the current size of the Valencian maritime location.
Leaders of the Sumar group, led by Vice President Yolanda Díaz, returned yesterday to criticize the central government’s decision on the grounds that it is an infrastructure that affects climate change and damages some natural areas. According to Efe, Sumar spokesman Ernest Urtasun said, “It is a mistake to continue to expand some infrastructures without limit,” and pointed out that this is against the times.
EIS Compliance
In this political debate, the mayor of València, María José Catalá, stated yesterday that the construction project of the container terminal is supported by the “up to date” Environmental Impact Declaration (DIA) dating back to 2007 and the technicians at the center. He added that management accepted his criteria “because they are experts on the subject.”
On the eve of this authorization for the new container terminal, Valenciaport yesterday presented data on the loading and unloading activities of goods at its berths.
Thus, traffic increased by 19.31% on an inter-year basis in November, thus achieving three consecutive months of growth, according to the APV Statistical Bulletin, which shows that last month Valencia’s docks handled 6,509,381 tonnes of goods. These data are reflected in the management of a total of 395,078 TEUs (18.72% more), of which 73,847 are for export and 61,283 for import. The growth in traffic at Valenciaport responds to an increase in general goods managed, with a total of 5,744,630 tonnes (+20.73%), as well as bulk cargo, which accumulated a total of 764,751 tonnes (+9.57%) in October 2023.
If the cumulative figures of the year are taken into account (January-November 2023 compared to the same period in 2022), a “stability line” is observed, marked by a decrease of 3.81% in managed tons and a 6.73% decrease in managed tons. TEUs.
Among the measures designed within the framework of PAV’s environmental strategy, work is being carried out on reducing logistics-related emissions and developing and expanding the port railway infrastructure with the aim of reaching zero emissions at Valenciaport by 2030.
Meanwhile, Valencia’s rival, the Port of Barcelona, recorded a total of 59 million tonnes of traffic between January and November; This represents a decrease of 9.2% compared to the same period in 2022. Container traffic stands at three million TEU. (twenty-foot-tall units) in the first eleven months of the year, or 7.5% less.
Compromis will not tie its support to the administration in Congress to expansion
Compromís has announced that it will wage a “judicial, political and social” fight against the expansion of the Port of Valencia, but will not carry out real pressure action against the PSOE and the Sumar Government. The coalition met with the executive yesterday to agree on its stance on the project’s imminent approval. A sensitive decision, because although the party has always openly opposed the expansion of this infrastructure, it is now integrated into a party called Sumar, which is a partner in Pedro Sánchez’s government and is in the Council of Ministers. greenlight the studies (despite a dissenting vote from Yolanda Díaz).
Although some voices advocated for the expansion to be conditioned by the support of lawmakers in Congress, ultimately the meeting resulted only from “a conspiracy to launch a political, legal and social struggle” against the expansion.
According to Comprom’s co-spokesperson, Agueda MicóIt’s possible because the court route, like Castor’s, is a “modified project” compared to the original. The first measure will be to support the Ciutat-Port Commission.
Regarding political actions, he will demand that Transport Minister Óscar Puente and his Ecological Transition counterpart Teresa Ribera explain “how it is possible” for a project to be approved with an “expired” environmental declaration, saying, “All reports say otherwise.
Major shipping companies are paralyzing routes on the Red Sea
The world’s two largest shipping companies, MSC and Maersk, as well as CMA and Hapag-Lloyd, announced the suspension of their routes in the Red Sea following attacks on ships by Houthi rebels in Yemen, allied with Hamas. Four companies hold more than 40% of the global market share. With just a week left until Christmas, this announcement could endanger freight traffic on the Suez Canal, which connects the Mediterranean to the Red Sea. The Suez Canal is one of the busiest routes in the world, with more than 50 ships passing through it every day. According to MSC sources, this shipping company’s calls in the port of Valencia will not change.