TCB group to invest 70 million euros to duplicate container work in Barcelona harbour

Barcelona (ACN).- Until 2013, the TCB Group will invest 70 million euros to increase its operability in Barcelona’s port. TCB is Spain’s first sea container operator and Barcelona is its main operation base. The investment will expand the group’s area in Barcelona’s harbour, going from 57 to 80 hectares. This decision will help the company to duplicate its operation capacity for boat containers, reaching 2.2 million containers per year (TEUs). The group forecasts a yearly total of 1 million containers managed by TCB by the end of 2010, which corresponds to 50% of the Barcelona harbour total. TCB has the objective of reaching 2008 figures (before the economic crisis) by 2012, growing between 5% and 10% each year.

This project is “absolutely necessary” in order to digest the foreseen higher number of containers that will be going through the Barcelona harbour in the next years, according to Xavier Soucheiron, CEO of TCB.

The expansion plan of the Catalan group TCB foresees improving the inter-mode service of its railway terminal, located in the same harbour (TCB Railway Transport), and adapting the rail to European standards. Before the end of 2010, TCB expects the terminal to be served with a double rail track.

The initiative is being undergone together with Barcelona’s Port Authority. It will make the Barcelona harbour the first in Spain to be connected with the French border through a European standard rail track. Since the 19^th century, Spanish rail tracks have had a different standard and are smaller than in the rest of Europe. In the last years, a lot of work has been done to correct this. The High-Speed network has already been built with European standards. Now it is time for freight lines.