Catalan freight company TCB invests €60 million into the Port of Barcelona’s infrastructure

Barcelona (ACN).- The Mayor of Barcelona, Xavier Trias, said this Wednesday that he welcomes the investment by Catalan businesses such as TCB (a shipment company based in Barcelona) in the Port of Barcelona. The company has invested €60 million on expanding the infrastructure which will increase from an area of 24 to 81 hectares in the second half of 2013. Trias emphasised the company’s outstanding commitment to “efficiency” and development of the freight railway station which has increased freight rail traffic from 2% to 12%. The Catalan harbour has been significantly increasing its container traffic in the last few years. Barcelona’s Port aims to become the main logistical hub in Southern Europe, using the international standard rail gauge to directly connect to Central Europe and new freight terminals.

“This investment is very important because Barcelona Port is one of the fundamental infrastructures for the City’s development”, said Trias. The Mayor has praised the Catalan logistics company for moving the project forward, alongside other investments from companies such as Hutchison, which has allocated €500 million euros to the construction of Tercat terminal, on the Prat dock.

The expansion of the terminal by TCB involves an extension of the dock by 150 metres to 1,515 metres and a new substation which will supply the required electrical power to meet future demands. The number of TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit) shipping containers transported by TCB through the Catalan capital’s port will increase from 0.9 million to 2.3 million at maximum capacity.

The freight railway station will also be expanded. TCB, which already has five railway lines of mixed width (Iberian and standard gauge) after an increase early last year, will have six railway lines available in 2013.

The CEO of TCB, Xavier Soucheiron, said that in addition to these investments, the Group is in the process of internationalisation with further projects in Colombia, Mexico, Turkey and India.