The logistics platform, to be called Boluda Maritime Terminals Santander, will start operating in January 2023
The Boluda Corporación Marítima CEO stressed in his speech that the new facilities will reduce costs and transit times for Santander companies
21 February, 2022.- President of Cantabria Miguel Ángel Revilla has praised Boluda Corporación Marítima CEO Vicente Boluda for placing his trust in Cantabria, viewing the company’s decision to construct a container terminal at the port of Santander as “going beyond investment” to “place the port of Santander on the world map”. Revilla also made reference to the Polígono de La Pasiega industrial estate, asserting that it will be “the perfect complement in the port development”. The declarations were made this morning in the cornerstone laying ceremony for the new infrastructures.
Boluda Corporación Marítima CEO Vicente Boluda expressed his pride at being able to “contribute to competitiveness and improve Cantabria’s connections via incoming and outgoing container ships” and affirmed that this business investment of over 20 million euros would mean “a reduction in costs for companies and shorten transit times in the logistics chain”.
Meanwhile, Port Authority president Francisco Martín underlined that the long-awaited news will provide “significant support” to companies in Cantabria by “offering a direct container import/export route, and increasing the number of destinations”.
With the cornerstone laid, Boluda Shipping can begin construction of the container terminal, a logistics platform that will be renamed Boluda Maritime Terminals Santander and that is scheduled to come into operation in January 2023.
Along these lines, Minister for Industry Francisco Javier López Marcano advanced news of the completion next month of the transaction of the La Pasiega industrial sites, which are to become integrated with the port of Santander. Marcano also made reference to the record throughput of traffic in the Cantabrian infrastructure this year and predicted that with the container terminal “this record will be beaten in coming years”.
Likewise, director of Planning and Development of State Ports Manuel Arana described the new terminal as a strategic project that will enable “an increase to first class quality “ in serving the productive sector and in competitiveness, not only in the port of Santander but across the whole of Spain.
Also attending this ceremony were Cantabria government delegate Ainoa Quiñones; the Minister of the Presidency, Interior, Justice and Foreign Action, Paula Fernández Viaña; Minister of Education and Vocational Training Marina Lombó; the Minister of Employment and Social Policies, Ana Álvarez and the president, vice president and CEO of Boluda Shipping, Alfonso Serrat, Ignacio Boluda and Gorka Carrillo, respectively.
The concession for design and operation of the maritime terminal was awarded on 16 December 2020 by the Santander Port Authority Board of Directors to NSCT Investment, a company created by Boluda. The company awarded the construction contract, Dragados, will begin work next March.
Boluda Maritime Terminals Santander will occupy an area of around 67,000 square metres, with a 472-metre berth line for docking. Apart from the other freight handling ships companies, Boluda Lines, the shipping company of Boluda Corporación Marítima’s international transport and logistics division Boluda Shipping, plans to make one stopover per week, with links in ports such as Villagarcía, Leixoes, Setúbal, Las Palmas and Tenerife, as well as in ports on the west coast of Africa.
Investment
Boluda Maritime Terminals Santander has committed to maintaining a minimum annual import and export throughout of at least 35,000 TEUs during the first five years of the concession, increasing to 44,823 TEUs per year from then onwards.
The maritime company predicts an investment of 20 million euros, between civil engineering, installation, construction and machinery purchase. Including equipment repair, this investment is estimated to reach 38.5 million euros over the 40 years of the concession.
This initiative will include port of Santander among the ports in which Boluda Shipping Division subsidiary Boluda Maritime Terminals already manages freight handling logistics (Las Palmas, Tenerife, Fuerteventura, La Palma, Seville and Villagarcia). The subsidiary is expected to begin operating another terminal in the Canary Islands next April, this time in the port of Arrecife.
