Barcelona Port’s new hydrocarbon terminal is unveiled

Barcelona (ACN).- Tradebe’s new terminal for petrochemical products at the Port of Barcelona was unveiled on Thursday. The new facility, located at the harbour’s Energy Dock, has 29 tanks for storing bulk liquids, with a total capacity of 450,000 cubic metres. It represented a €65 million investment, occupying 60,000 square metres and creating 27 direct jobs. Tradebe is one of the leading companies in industrial waste management in Spain, with a significant presence in the United States and the United Kingdom as well as having subsidiary companies in France and Turkey. Additionally, TPS – Tradebe’s subsidiary – offers a storage services of liquid hydrocarbons in bulk, particularly fuel oil, diesel oil, jet fuel and petrol, as well as derivative products such as ethanol or FAME (Fatty Acid Methyl Ester), linked to biodiesel production. The President of the Catalan Government, Artur Mas, and the Spanish Minister for Public Works, Ana Pastor, participated in Thursday’s unveiling ceremony. Mas asked Pastor to prioritise “productive” investments, such as Barcelona Port’s railway connections.

The Spanish Government has the tender for building the international standard-width railway connection “ready”

During the unveiling ceremony of the Tradebe terminal, the Spanish Minister for Public Works explained that the department she chairs has the tender for building the first phase of the international standard-width railway connection of Barcelona’s Port with Central and Northern Europe “ready”. This first phase represents a €37 million investment out of the total €100 million.

Afterwards, the Catalan President urged the Spanish Minister to prioritise “productive investments” with “an economic return”, such as those made in the ports of Barcelona and Tarragona, especially their railway connections to the rest of Europe. Artur Mas emphasised the fact that this sort of investment is what will provide “a future” for the economy.

Good vibes

Mas celebrated the current “climate of trust” existing between the Spanish Ministry of Public Works and its Catalan counterpart. However, he also reminded that “for a long while”, the Spanish Government’s commitments in the Barcelona Port’s railway connections have “not been honoured”. Despite this fact, the Catalan President added that now he has the belief that the Spanish Government has taken the project “seriously”.

Pastor insisted that the Spanish Government is working to improve the railway connection to the Spanish ports. She added that Barcelona’s project “is one of the most important ones”. The Minister considered the Catalan port’s international-width railway connection with Can Tunis terminal for goods to be “essential”. From there, trains will be able to go non-stop to Central and Northern Europe, consolidating the Port of Barcelona as one of the main goods gateways for continental exports and imports, especially to Northern Africa and Asia. Pastor also mentioned the project to build a marshalling yard, which will require a €50 million investment and will allow the circulation of trains with gauges of all widths.

€176 million public-private investment made in the Energy Dock over the last four years

Furthermore, the President of Barcelona’s Port Authority, Sixte Cambra, underlined the fact that Tradebe’s new terminal at the harbour’s Energy Dock is an example of the “perfect cooperation” between public and private sectors, as well as a proof of “complicity” among private operators. In addition, the Port’s President explained that over the last four years €176 million in public-private investments have been put into the Energy Dock. However, Cambra insisted that in the Port of Barcelona there are all sorts of ongoing investments, in very diverse sectors, including hydrocarbons, freight, cars, passenger ferries and cruise ships.