Port of Alicante hosted more than sixty companies within the province, showcasing its potential as a hub for local employment and as a platform for both inland activity and export operations. The visit was organized with support from the Mediterranean Business Relations Association REM, Oran Foundation, and involved collaboration with the Port Authority, CEMEX, TMS, Eiffage, and Grupo Romeu. The head of the Port Authority, Julián López, highlighted the port’s broad appeal, explaining that it is a diverse, city-accessible space with an active commercial terminal. He noted ship traffic, entertainment, and ongoing construction of a new container terminal, stressing that although Alicante is a small port, it offers a wide range of possibilities.
Commercial director Mónica Bautista guided the participants, who included representatives from Grupo Romeu, Cableworld, Paredes, Bateig Piedra Natural, and others, through the site. They visited every dock and stopped at a new solid bulk storage warehouse operated by the Eiffage Group, where plant manager Eduardo Moya described the operation of the vessel. The warehouse is a notable example in Europe of circular economy and waste reuse in practice.
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Jesús Aznar, manager of the TMS terminal, detailed the terminal’s daily operations and highlighted its four business units: passenger services, container handling, cement silos, and road logistics. He emphasized that Alicante port offers a personalized service designed to simplify the logistics needs of companies.
This versatility, supported by the port, its nearby intermodal terminal or dry port, will streamline inbound and outbound warehousing, enhance connections between Alicante and Valencia, Madrid, and above all along the Mediterranean Corridor, and help reduce road truck movements in favor of more sustainable transport options.
Attention was drawn to the involvement of Xiritxola SA, a development company promoting the sun port concept. The dry port for the province of Alicante is advancing, with the Xiritxola project gaining traction as a viable growth option for the Port of Alicante. The Puerta del Sol project presents a technically feasible plan to deploy the Intermodal Logistics Platform in the El Pla region (Novel). This site features a partial development plan approving 1.5 million square meters for industrial and tertiary use, bordered to the north by rail tracks and to the south by land provided by Monforte del Cid, totaling more than 5 million square meters.
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Among the key issues discussed was the inadequate rail connection between the port and Europe, which adds about 15 million euros in annual costs for exporting companies that rely on road transport to reach destinations or other ports such as Valencia or Algeciras. Establishing a robust international gauge connection between the port and the Mediterranean Corridor stands as one of the project’s biggest challenges for both the Ministry of Transport and the European transport network authorities, given that the port was among the first to be left out of trans-European networks due to limited freight movement.