Grimaldi unveils its new €20 million ferry terminal at Barcelona's Port

Barcelona (ACN).- On Monday, the Italian ferry company unveiled a 63,000 square metre passenger and goods terminal at the Port of Barcelona, with an investment of €20 million and a capacity of 3,600 passengers per day. The new terminal is located at the Costa dock, which was previously a restricted area within the largest port of the Mediterranean Sea. Now, the opening of the Grimaldi terminal will allow Barcelona to gain a new urban area, since the space accessing and surrounding the terminal will be integrated into the city for the first time. Urban planning work will be concluded by the end of the year, announced the Mayor of Barcelona, Xavier Trias, at the opening ceremony. The Spanish Transport Minister, Ana Pastor, the Catalan Business Minister, Felip Puig, and the company’s Managing Director and co-owner, Emanuele Grimaldi, also attended the ceremony.

The new terminal has restaurants, bars, shops and free Wi-fi, and it will allow the boarding of passengers and goods. The Catalan Business Minister emphasised that this new transport infrastructure strengthens two of Catalonia’s main economic industries: tourism and logistics. Emanuele Grimaldi was very happy with the new terminal and he emphasised that with the new infrastructure goods traffic between Italy and Spain will increase. Currently, 40% of the commercial traffic between Spain and Italy is made through maritime highways, such as those run by Grimaldi.

The Spanish Government is currently studying the possibility of lowering sea port fees

The Spanish Transport Minister insisted that the new terminal is proof of the good relationship between the public and the private sector. She also added that the Spanish Government is currently studying the possibility of lowering sea port fees. However, she did not disclose a calendar or any details of the proposal.

3 new terminals in 9 months

Finally, the President of the Port of Barcelona remarked that within the last 9 months, the Catalan harbour has unveiled three new terminals: one for containers, another one for hydrocarbons and, finally, a ferry terminal.