News APB | Ports de Balears

The APB guarantees two-week supplier payment terms

07/04/2020

The Port Authority of the Balearic Islands (APB) maintains its two-week supplier payment terms, thus continuing to operate as it did before the Spanish Government declared the ‘state of alarm’ on 14 March. In this sense, the APB commits to speeding up payments to its suppliers for their services and products in order to ensure cash flow for the companies that work with it. All invoicing with the APB is processed electronically. To this end, the different organisational units involved in the payment of invoices are making an additional effort in the light of the social distancing measures decreed by the Government. In this sense, the Information Systems and ICT Infrastructure Division has set up 136 computers in the homes of APB staff to enable remote port management, which means that more than 40 per cent of the staff are now telecommuting. The Procurement Division ensures the electronic processing of delivery notes and certifications of the work carried out through the Tendering Portal, while the Economic and Finance Department is giving priority to speeding up payments to suppliers.

The APB moves more than 40% of its workforce to telecommuting in the first week of the ‘state of alarm’

31/03/2020

The Port Authority of the Balearic Islands (APB) has moved 42% of its workforce to telecommuting within the first week of the ‘state of alarm’ declared by the Spanish Government in response to the health crisis brought about by the COVID-19 virus. Within the first seven days following 14 March, the APB’s Information Systems and ICT Infrastructure Division set up 136 computer systems to enable remote port management and thus comply with the stay at home measures laid down by the Government. “It has been a resounding success thanks to the Systems team,” says its head, Javier Segovia. “There was no telecommuting culture at the APB and we had never needed to roll out the technological infrastructure required for it.” This unprecedented technological deployment has been undertaken in partnership with Spanish consulting firm Ozona Tecnología and has ensured uninterrupted delivery of critical services and strategic infrastructures in the public ports managed by the APB. The APB’s average headcount is 324 people, 40% of them office workers. Practically all of these staff along with personnel in the Port Police service and Maintenance department have been provided with computer equipment so they can work from home. All of the APB’s organisational units, including Human Resources, Public Port Land, Secretariat and Legal Affairs, Procurement, Economic and Finance, Infrastructures, Port Operations and Services, Environment, Planning and the Port Police Control Centre, are continuing to do essential work for the operation of the ports remotely from their staff’s homes. Electronic management The APB’s e-Office is the contact point between the public body and its customers and users through the website www.portsdebalears.com. Maintenance and maritime signals personnel are at home and can be called out if they are needed on public port land. Minimum essential services are also being provided by the Port Police. All of this means the APB can keep running its five public ports in Palma, Alcudia, Mahon, Ibiza and La Savina which are an essential link in the logistics chain to ensure supplies reach the people living on the Balearic Islands.

The APB disinfects vehicles used for essential port services with ozone

30/03/2020

The Port Authority of the Balearic Islands (APB) has bought six portable ozone generators to disinfect its official vehicles used for essential port services such as port police patrol cars and maritime signals and maintenance vans. The ozone generators are put inside the vehicles at the end of each shift and switched on for a few minutes to ensure thorough disinfection. They are also being used to disinfect port access control booths, control centres and communal areas and rooms. Ozone is an extremely efficient disinfectant and its use is recommended by the World Health Organisation in the fight against the spread of COVID-19. The APB has bought six portable ozone blasting units from Accuaria for nearly €6,000 and has deployed them around the public ports of Palma, Alcudia, Mahon, Ibiza and La Savina.

Understanding in principle with Formentera Council to update the Port of La Savina fire brigade agreement

26/03/2020

The Board of Directors of the Port Authority of the Balearic Islands (APB) has this week approved the update to its agreement with Formentera Island Council on fire prevention, fire-fighting, sea rescue and civil defence in the Port of La Savina. In response to the changes brought in by Spanish Law 40/2015 on agreements involving government and public agencies, the APB and Formentera Island Council have decided to update their agreement under which the Formentera Fire Brigade operates as an APB incident response team under its command on public port land in the Port of La Savina. In return the APB will contribute €24,000 per year, a figure which will go up by €1,000 annually over the four years of the agreement. This funding will be used to provide training and buy specific equipment for the Formentera Fire Brigade. Following the understanding in principle endorsed this week by the APB’s Board of Directors, the proposal for the agreement is to be forwarded to the Ministry of Finance for its approval. It will then have to be signed by the APB and Formentera Island Council and will come into force once it has been registered in the Electronic Register of Cooperation Agencies and Instruments and published in Spain’s Official State Gazette. Close partnership In 2018, the APB gave Formentera Island Council a small fire engine worth €191,000 in addition to laying on specific training for the Formentera Fire Brigade in operations in ports and buying specialised equipment. This new measure is part of the APB’s strategy of signing agreements with the island councils to enhance their fire-fighting resources and make port facilities as safe as possible.

THE APB PORTS GUARANTEE THE PROVISION OF SUPPLIES TO THE LOCAL POPULATION AND THE ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURES WITH PORT USERS

17/03/2020

The public-owned ports managed by the Port Authority of the Balearic Islands (APB) continue to operate in order to guarantee the supply of goods to the inhabitants of the Autonomous Region of the Balearic Islands and to manage administrative procedures with their users and clients. In this sense, the APB management has implemented several organisational measures in accordance with the Spanish Royal Decree 463/2020, of 14 March, aimed at providing the necessary services to society that the Spanish Ports Law "grants us and demands of us". These measures include the essential basic services that must be provided by the Port Police in the five public-owned ports on the islands: Palma, Alcudia, Mahon, Ibiza and La Savina. The majority of the remaining employees have been allowed to work from home, except for those who are essential to port operations. The E-Office website reminds users that the terms and deadlines for processing procedures by public-sector entities have been suspended, and users are advised to contact the APB through online channels or by telephone.

APB’s Strategic Plan enters the final stage of the process and is now open to input from the public

13/02/2020

The Port Authority of the Balearic Islands (APB) is in the process of drawing up its Strategic Plan for the five public ports (Palma, Alcudia, Mahon, Ibiza and la Savina) and maritime signals (34 lighthouses and over 25 beacons) it manages. The Plan has a 5-10 year timeframe and will be included in the State-owned Port System’s Institutional and Strategic Framework planning system. This Plan addresses the role to be played by the infrastructures which deliver critical services for shipping connections and the supply of the islands. They are also used for significant tourism and socioeconomic operations in the cruise industry and recreational sailing sector, including industrial operations (repair and maintenance), and to a lesser extent fishing. This Plan’s purpose is to set out future strategies for these ports by reconciling the diverse viewpoints in the society which they serve and should continue to serve. To that end, the APB will take into account all the key socioeconomic, technological, environmental and other factors which may have an impact while always seeking to promote the general interest. The APB’s intention with the Plan is to improve service quality and efficiency in its ports while maintaining their current self-financing capacity and respecting their valuable environment (both natural and urban) with sufficient foresight to successfully address the challenges of the immediate future. Public input Following Stage I of the work carried out in 2018 and 2019, the results and conclusions of the preliminary analysis and assessment were compiled in documents and presented to the main stakeholders on each of the islands. Alongside the numerous interviews and meetings held with the port community, an electronic communication channel was set up and publicised on the website and in social media which has made it possible to report on the progress of the work and welcome input from all stakeholders. Following the discussion and contributions received, Stage II, in which the Plan has been drawn up, is now nearing completion with the design and deployment of the Strategy of the APB and each of its ports (and maritime signals). The APB is making the main or more general strategy design and deployment documents publically available so it can hear the whole range of views, responses, suggestions and approaches. It is confident that this consultation will generate fresh discussion and thus further enhance the Plan. The APB would like to thank you in advance for your comments, remarks and input. Please email them to planestrategico@portsdebalears.com by 9 March 2020 so that they can be considered before the Strategic Plan’s final version is completed.

The Cruise 2030 Working Group commits to finding the best possible balance for ports, destinations, and cruise companies, to guarantee the future of the cruise industry in Europe. The next meeting will be held in Cannes in June 2020

07/02/2020

Following on from the inaugural meeting held in Venice last October, today the Cruise 2030 Working Group met in Palma de Mallorca. Delegations from eight of Europe’s main cruise destinations, including Amsterdam, Bergen, Cannes, Dubrovnik, Malaga, Marseille, Palma de Mallorca, and Venice met to formalise their support for the "CRUISE 2030 CALL FOR ACTION" initiative promoted by the Port of Venice. The Cruise 2030 Working Group agreed collectively, that the main objective of the "CRUISE 2030 CALL FOR ACTION" must be to define common strategies whereby each port can find ways to support sustainable development of the cruise industry within their regions, whilst taking into account the needs not only of the cruise industry, but also the environment, and the port itself. Today's session presented the conclusions of the study Towards a New Balance for Ports, Destinations, and the Cruise Industry. This study was conducted by the North Adriatic Sea Port Authority, with outcomes based on analysis carried out in eight different European ports. The study, which highlights the growth of cruise tourism in recent years, within the global context of the general increase in tourism worldwide, recognises that there may be non-positive consequences on a local level, such as environmental impact, and pressure caused by large numbers of tourists to the destination and historical centres, and acknowledges the future of the cruise industry depends on its ability to find a way to guarantee the best possible balance for destinations, ports, and cruise companies. Many topics were discussed, the most significant points being: Delivery of economic initiatives which outline suggestions for cruise companies to enable reductions to environmental impact at individual ports. Some of the environmental measures adopted by port authorities include favoring onshore power supply, 0.1% SOx, LNG fuel, closed-loop scrubbers, involvement of the whole tourism chain, reducing speed of ships and local compensation for the environmental footprint. Decision to postpone the inclusion of new international ports in the Cruise 2030 Working Group. · The main aim, in the long run, is to define the standards of a sustainable cruise industry, which takes into account all the different needs of the various stakeholders involved. Particular attention to be given to the needs of the ports, and even more to their surroundings. Eventually, defining and adopting the standards of a vessel-type, a Europax class, with specific characteristics matching the features of European ports. · Broad cooperation requires interaction and discussion with local authorities (municipalities, provinces, and regions) in order to define a clear path towards a sustainable industry, in a framework to govern the policy as a destination, rather than among individual institutional stakeholders. The next meeting is scheduled for next June 2020 and will be hosted and organised by the port of Cannes. The Cruise 2030 call for action is a working group of 8 of the main cruise ports in Europe, including Amsterdam, Bergen, Cannes, Dubrovnik, Malaga, Marseille Fos, Palma de Mallorca, and Venice. The initiative was proposed by the Port of Venice and launched in October 2019, to start to operate on finding ways to help shaping the cruise industry of the future. Indeed, the Cruise 2030 call for action means to delineate a common platform of customized strategies to support the development of the cruise industry in a sustainable manner, with the aim of matching more the needs of the industry with the demands of the Cities and territories. As a think tank basing its analysis on scientific facts and studies, the Cruise 2030 ports mean to elaborate a set of strategies and to play their key-active role to launch a new and more significant dialogue with the main actors of the cruise industry at an institutional and economic level, as to trace a new policy for the future of cruise ports.

The Port of Palma puts twelve solar-powered compacting bins on its seafront promenade in a pilot environmental scheme

06/02/2020

The Port Authority of the Balearic Islands (APB) has installed twelve solar-powered compacting bins in the Port of Palma as part of a technological innovation pilot scheme designed to make waste management more efficient. The bins allow for separate collection of light packaging, municipal solid waste, paper and cardboard. The Bigbelly smart bins run on solar panels and have a built-in GPS and sensors which report in real time when they are full. This makes it easier for the cleaning crew to collect them. The bins are also fitted with a waste compactor which has a capacity eight times greater than a traditional bin, storing between 600 and 800 litres of waste. One of the added values and reasons why APB has decided to install this new system is using clean energy. The smart bins are exclusively solar powered and with only eight hours of daylight they can run at full capacity for a month. The twelve bins have been placed along the Palma seafront promenade by Future Street España based on pedestrian flows and bearing in mind that these bins are the ones most commonly used by the general public. This means the results can be evaluated in potentially strategic locations. The initiative is to last six months and has a cost of €5,000. The APB is continuing to move forward in improving the cleanliness of its ports following sustainability principles and using environmental initiatives which have already been rolled out in other cities such as Dublin, Berlin, New York, Dubai, London, Paris and Madrid.

Med Sea Yacht Services to run the Cós Nou dry dock in the Port of Mahon

02/01/2020

The Board of Directors of the Port Authority of the Balearic Islands (APB) has this afternoon selected the bid submitted by Med Sea Yacht Services, SL, as the most advantageous of the ones presented in the public tender to run the Cós Nou dry dock in the Port of Mahon for the next 23 years. Med Sea Yacht Services will manage a total of 35,000 square metres of public port area, of which 29,000 square metres are land and the rest water. The lease charge plus improvements comes to some €200,000 per year while the operations charge will be 4% of turnover. The main services to be provided by the dry dock concessionaire will be lifting and launching vessels, their supervision and custody, cleaning hulls and descaling carried out by its own staff, and running the moorings set aside for repairs. It will also have a fuel supply point, premises and offices for letting to other businesses and a dry marina for around 150 boats no more than ten metres in length. In addition, it will allow owners of vessels up to eight metres long to use the dry dock slipway. Open dry dock Med Sea Yacht Services will be required to provide these and other services included in the contract operating on an exclusive basis. However, any APB-authorised company may carry out repair and maintenance work on vessels within the concession, albeit not on an exclusive basis as the concessionaire can also do this type of work. In other words, the concessionaire will only have exclusivity in providing the commercial services covered by the concession contract and maximum tariffs will also be set for these services.

PRIZEWINNERS ARE SELECTED FOR THE APB's 10th PAINTING AND PHOTOGRAPHY CONTEST

03/12/2019

The prizewinners of the popular Painting and Photography Contest run by the Port Authority of the Balearic Islands (APB) have now been selected. The contest is organised annually by the port authority in collaboration with the Círculo de Bellas Artes in Palma de Mallorca and is very well received by the public, with €8,000 in prizes up for grabs. Over one hundred works were entered in this year's edition, divided into three categories: watercolour, other painting techniques and photography. The winning works were carefully selected from among those entered and will be placed on display at the Military History &amp Culture Centre of The Balearic Islands in Palma from Wednesday 4 December. The exhibition will be on here until 4 January. Afterwards, as is tradition, it will tour the neighbouring islands making a stop in Ibiza, at the Ses Coves Blanques lighthouse in Sant Antoni de Portmany (from 28 February to 21 March). A national contest This edition had entries from all of the Balearic Islands as well as other mainland cities including Granada, Málaga, Girona, Tarragona and Ciudad Real, among others. First prize in the Watercolour category went to José María Sánchez Gutiérrez for his work Amanece en Alcúdia. The winner of the Other Painting Techniques was Andrés Figueras Salvat for her pieceProtegidos en el puerto. Ibiza. Last but not least, the first prize for Photography this year was awarded to David Esteban Liljedahl for his work Serenidad (Faro de Portocolom). With the contest's national scope, the APB ensures that the objective set at the very beginning—to capture, by means of visual art, the popular interest that is aroused by places as ordinary and unique as the ports of interest and the lighthouses in the Balearic Islands—is met and grows with every new edition of this contest. Check out the winners and dates of the exhibitions.

APB puts management of the bar & café and restaurant in the Port of Alcudia’s passenger terminal out to tender

25/11/2019

The Official State Gazette (BOE) has published the decision by the Port Authority of the Balearic Islands (APB) Board of Directors to put out to tender the management of the bar &amp café and restaurant in the Port of Alcudia’s passenger terminal. The purpose of the tender is to choose the best bid for the award of an administrative concession to provide this public service for a maximum period of ten years. The tender allows bidders to propose two options: running the bar &amp café on the ground floor along with the restaurant on the first floor, or just running the bar &amp café. Preference will be given to the former option, which means that only if no valid bid is submitted for the joint operation of the two premises will bids for the bar &amp café service on its own be evaluated. The annual lease charge to be bettered by bidders is €6,512.43 while the annual operations charge to be paid to the APB will be 4% of turnover. Nearly 340,000 passengers a year use the Port of Alcudia’s passenger terminal and it has scheduled services with the ports of Barcelona, Ciutadella and Toulon in France.

APB puts management of its historic headquarters out to tender for its conversion into a “port-city” interpretation centre

19/11/2019

The Official State Gazette (BOE) today published the decision by the Port Authority of the Balearic Islands (APB) Board of Directors to put out to tender the management of its historic building on the Old Quay in the Port of Palma and its conversion into a “port-city” interpretation centre. The APB’s historic headquarters is currently being remodelled to turn it into a public facility and it will subsequently be run via an administrative concession. The future interpretation centre is to have several separate areas explaining the history of the ports and their connection with their urban setting. It will also be turned into a meeting point for social and cultural events open to all audiences. Some of its facilities will be set aside for the APB including a newspaper archive, a library, a meeting room for the Board of Directors and an exhibition room about the Balearic Islands’ public ports and lighthouses. The concessionaire will operate a multipurpose venue in which it will have to schedule and organise a range of artistic and socially relevant events throughout the year aimed at the general public. It will also run a shop for the interpretation centre whose main role will be to publicise port contents by selling books, catalogues and other media promoting the port’s operations and image. Finally, it will provide a bar, restaurant and café service split between the second and third floors covering around 630 square metres and featuring two terraces overlooking Majorca Cathedral and the Bay of Palma. The concessionaire will be responsible for the maintenance, cleaning, surveillance, control and security of the facilities along with encouraging people to visit the interpretation centre and the APB’s exhibition room. The annual lease charge to be bettered by bidders is €138,871.49 and the concession will last at most fifteen years. Remodelling by the APB While the APB’s historic headquarters will be managed indirectly through a concession, the remodelling of the old building is to be carried out by the APB. Acciona Construcción has been awarded the works with public investment coming to almost €5.5 million. The construction plan maintains the building’s entire exterior façade with the exception of the East side which is to be replaced by a large stained-glass window that will also be a vantage point. The neoclassical building now being remodelled is listed and was constructed in 1940. In 1955 it was extended to its current 1,314 square metres of plot. Refurbishment work began in February 2019 and is expected to be completed by summer 2020.