The president of Boluda Corporación Marítima was awarded yesterday for his support to make the ports managed by the Port Authority of Las Palmas more competitive and profitable

Valencia, May 27 2022. The president of Boluda Corporación Marítima, Vicente Boluda Fos, yesterday received the Ports of Las Palmas 2021 Award for Entrepreneurship, presented by the Board of the Ports of Las Palmas Foundation, for his contribution to making these ports more competitive and profitable. This distinction was also awarded to Yesos Canarios, SA, for its support in the development of the port of Arinaga.

The award ceremony took place in the logistics warehouse of the World Food Program (WFP) and was attended, among others, by the president of the Port Authority, Luis Ibarra, who presented the award in the presence of the delegate of the Government in the Canary Islands, Anselmo Pestana.

The Ports of Las Palmas Awards wanted this year to recognize the work of the shipowner Vicente Boluda Fos since he has given a strong impulse that is manifested in various services and operations that contribute to make the Canary Islands “more competitive, modern and profitable ports”, as highlighted by the organization.

It should be noted that the main presence of Boluda Corporación Marítima in the Canary Islands is with its shipping lines. Since the end of 2020, the company has been operating the only daily connection between the south of the Spanish Peninsula and the Canary Islands with container ships, a decision that has facilitated the logistics of goods between the Archipelago and the rest of Spain despite a general uncertainty in the maritime transport sector.

Proof of this are the figures: on the first anniversary of the line, which connects Cadiz with Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Tenerife and La Palma, has far exceeded one million tons transported –specifically, 1,382,851– in the more than 300 departures made from Cadiz. In addition, the link with Seville provides companies with an intermodal option, since the port of the Andalusian capital has a railway connection.

Maritime terminals

Maritime transport in container ships requires land-based infrastructures to manage the transfer of goods. Boluda has two container terminals in the Ports of Las Palmas –in total, four throughout the archipelago– to which it has recently added a concession in the port of Arrecife. The company started the execution of the works last April. The facilities will occupy 5,413 square meters in the public port domain of the capital and will have 150 meters of docking line for loading and unloading operations. In total, it will be able to store up to 50,000 containers that will be added to the corporation’s 1,116,900 TEUs per year in the archipelago.

The Corporation is also present in the Ports of Las Palmas through its tugboat service. The company Remolcadores y Barcazas de Las Palmas is the service provider in La Luz, Puerto del Rosario and Arrecife, and in the coming months it will also have the first base in the Canary Islands dedicated to this type of vessel. In the facilities, which will be located in the southern section of the Cambulloneros dock in Las Palmas, ships will be able to turn off their engines and connect to the power grid.

In addition to all these operations, other services are provided, such as ship consignment through the historical Miller y Cía. and logistics services. In this last section, the activity of Boluda & Suárez General Cargo, a company specialized in the management of large projects, has gained particular importance in recent years. It is currently in charge of unloading onshore wind turbine components for the company Enercon in Gran Canaria, with close to 500 operations planned for this year alone. Its role will also be relevant in the future take-off of floating offshore wind power in the Canary Islands.

Other awards

In addition, the following were recognized with the Professional Life in the Port Environment Award: Jesús Alarcón, former director of VB Comisarios de Averías for 25 years in Boluda Corporación Marítima, who was charged with giving a speech on behalf of the winners; Fidel González (in memoriam), Pedro Mederos, Rafael Pastor and Juan José Ramírez (in memoriam).

The Distinguished Customer Award went to Peninsula, a company that has chosen the port of Las Palmas as a fuel supply platform and logistics hub in the new markets with Africa.

The Special Institutional Award went to the Association of Professional Women in the Maritime and Port Sector of the West and Central African Coast.

Finally, the Canary Islands Association of Maritime Collectors received the Sociocultural Award, while Foreign Health and the Canary Islands Health Service (SCS) received a Special Distinction.