freight

Business

Tarragona’s chemical hub unveils its first intermodal station with international-standard width railway

February 9, 2013 05:41 PM | CNA / Anna Fortuny / Núria Torres

Tarragona’s intermodal freight station is located within the Bayer factory and it will serve all the companies located in the southern half of the chemical centre. Tarragona is host to Spain’s largest chemical hub, which will be connected by international-standard width railway to Central and Northern Europe once the Spanish Government has built the stretch between this economic centre and Greater Barcelona. This stretch is part of the strategic Mediterranean Railway Corridor, which the Spanish Government has been delaying for years. This main infrastructure will combine a high-speed passenger railway with goods transportation. Once completed, it will connect Gibraltar with Northern Europe via Spain’s Mediterranean ports and industrial centres, including València, Tarragona and Barcelona.

Business

Container exportation from Barcelona Port grew by 8.7% in 2012

January 24, 2013 11:10 PM | CNA

The Port of Barcelona, one of southern Europe’s main transport infrastructures, continues to bring positive results. Over the last year the Catalan harbour unveiled two new container terminals, an investment to consolidate the trend of attracting greater container traffic, as the 8.7% increase shows. In addition, the number of cars transported increased by 9.8%. These figures are to be added to the 12% increase in container exports and 25% growth of car exports through Barcelona’s harbour in 2011. Besides, the port in the capital of Catalonia continues to lead the cruise ship sector in Europe, transporting 2.4 million passengers and almost reaching last year’s record high of 2.6 million cruisers.

Politics

Once again the Spanish Government will not honour investment obligations in Catalonia next year

October 4, 2012 01:47 PM | CNA / Gaspar Pericay Coll

As in the past, Catalonia will not receive the investment percentage it is legally entitled to by the current legislation. Instead of getting 19% of the foreseen investment in infrastructures made throughout Spain, in the Spanish Government’s budget for 2013 Catalonia will only receive 11.9%. Furthermore, essential infrastructures for Catalonia’s economy and Spain’s and Europe’s competitiveness are under-budgeted while the Spanish Government finds the money to build non-priority infrastructures, such as high-speed railways in Galicia. On top of this, only 35% of the public work initially foreseen in Catalonia by the Spanish budget for 2011 was executed, while in Madrid the work executed came to 111%. Besides, the Spanish Government has reduced its funds to Catalan cultural centres and festivals by 70% over two years.

Business

The largest container terminal in southern Europe is officially unveiled in Barcelona Port

September 28, 2012 02:12 PM | CNA / Gaspar Pericay Coll

The Catalan capital hosts the largest and most modern container terminal of the Mediterranean Sea, a true gate for cargo ships, linking Europe with the Middle East, Northern Africa and Asia. BEST, which stands for Barcelona Europe South Terminal, represents a €515 million investment by Hutchison Port Holdings (HPH). This week it has unveiled the first part of the project: 100 hectares to store containers, 1.5 kilometres of docking space for cargo ships, 98 cranes and a provisional international-width railway connection to compete with northern European harbours. However, the Spanish Government has not started the definitive railway connection yet, despite many promises.

Business

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

September 13, 2012 12:29 AM | CNA / David Tuxworth

The Mayor of Barcelona welcomed the company’s investments and commitment to efficiency at the Port of Barcelona. The Catalan harbour is 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. The Catalan company TCB is expanding its freight railway station and its power substation, as well as enlarging the ship docking space. The improvements will increase the maximum number of shipping containers transported by TCB from 0.9 million to 2.3 million by the end of 2013.