News APB | Ports de Balears

The APB gives the go-ahead to a €27.8 million investment budget for 2015

04/09/2015

The Board of Directors of the Port Authority of the Balearic Islands (APB) has given the go-ahead to the 2015 Business Plan, which includes investments totalling €27.8 million for the five public ports it manages on the islands. The APB is set to close 2014 with a profit of €13.6 million and a forecast turnover of €60.1 million. Spending will be highest at the Port of Ibiza, with a forecast investment of €12.5 million in 2015. The main project, which has a budget of €7 million, involves modernising and improving the South Quays, followed by €4.4 million of improvements at the Commercial Quays. A budget of €2.5 million has also been allocated to extending the Botafoc Quays so they can cater for large cruise ships. The Port of Palma will receive €9.3 million, aimed mainly at improving its cruise facilities, including the extension of Terminal No. 6, extending berthing lines, and organising surface areas to cater for the arrival of large cruise ships. A figure of €2.7 million has been allocated to the Port of Mahon which will mainly be spent on projects at the Cós Nou Ro-ro Terminal, extending the Passenger Quay berthing line to cater for the arrival of large cruise ships, lighting between the APB offices and the Colársega end of the port, and linking the port to the city via the Costa de Ses Voltes street. Compensation for insularity At the meeting held yesterday at the Port of Palma, the APB’s Board of Directors also approved a reduction in the port authority’s income of almost €14 million, as a result of the application of the insularity rebates, and of the reduction coefficient on the vessel, passenger, and goods charges for inter-island shipping services.

The Port Authority of the Balearic Islands exhibits the entries submitted to the 5th Balearic Island port and lighthouse painting and photography competition

04/09/2015

From 9th December 2014 to 10th January 2015, the Port Authority of the Balearic Islands (APB) will be exhibiting the entries submitted to the 5th Painting and Photography Competition at the Palma Military Culture and History Centre. The event has been organised in conjunction with the Palma de Majorca Fine Arts Society. The competition has received 200 entries, which have been divided into three categories: watercolours, other painting techniques, and photography. Around 90 hundred works have been pre-selected and will be exhibited from Tuesday in the Santa Margarita cloister on the Calle San Miguel in Palma. The winners of the competition this year are: Author Work Entries submitted in: Watercolour 1st prize Josep Plaja López - Porto Pi Mallorca (Palma) 2nd prize Tanen Gil March - La Fortaleza-Bahía de Pollença (Palma) 3rd prize José Francisco Rams Lluch - Port de Ibiza i Pailebot-Cala Millor (Ibiza) Honourable Mention Margarita Forteza Villar - Sa Dragonera luz de navegantes (Palma) Other painting techniques 1st prize Francisco Luna Galván - Puerto de Palma (Palma) 2nd prize Antonio Gázquez Medina - Keep Calm (Ibiza) 3rd prize Margarita Forteza Villar - Puerto de Palma (Palma) Honourable Mention Diana Bustamante Frías - Passeig a es Moscarter (Ibiza) Photography 1st prize Sebastià Terrassa Ferragut - La Isla (Palma) 2nd prize Miguel Ángel López Vico - El vigilante (Mahon) 3rd prize Xavier Marquès Triay - Encant de Favàritx (Mahon) Honourable Mention Guillem Garcés Riera - Far de Sa Colònia (Palma) The competition awards, which include prize money of over €10,000, will be presented to the winners on Friday evening by the APB Chairman, Alberto Pons, and the Chairman of the Fine Arts Society, Gaspar Sabater. The exhibition will subsequently be moved to San Antonio, and then to Mahon. This is the fifth consecutive year that the APB has sponsored this competition on Balearic Island lighthouses and the public ports of Palma, Alcudia, Mahon, Ibiza, and La Savina. The aim of the competition is to reflect the general interest in these everyday yet unique places through art.

The APB and Palma City Council create a joint committee to promote the port’s Master Plan

04/09/2015

Today, the Port Authority of the Balearic Islands (APB) and the Palma City Council signed an agreement to create a joint cooperation committee to discuss and set out the basic principles and the main lines of action in drawing up and establishing the procedures for the Infrastructure Master Plan and the corresponding Special Plan for the Port of Palma. The APB Chairman, Alberto Pons, and the Mayor of Palma, Mateo Isern, signed the agreement this morning at the Cort de Palma building, accompanied by the APB Director, Juan Carlos Plaza, the Deputy Mayor of Town Planning and Housing at Palma City Council, Jesús Valls, and the Town Planning Managing Director, Fernando González. Seafront promenade The joint committee also aims to establish the basic guidelines for the release of the Palma promenade to the city council, agreeing on the boundaries, the facilities to be transferred, reserving the right to access port facilities, and all other issues that are required for the promenade road to come under municipal jurisdiction. Similarly, the joint committee will also deal with and analyse all the issues of interest that could provide better services to port users, residents, and visitors to the city. The committee members are Juan Carlos Plaza Plaza, Jorge Nasarre López, and José Ignacio Arroyo Cabeza from the APB, and Fernando González Moreno, Bartolomé Abad Socías, and José Alejandro Asensi López from Palma City Council.

The APB takes part in the 43rd Medcruise General Assembly in Turkey

04/09/2015

The APB recently took part in the 43rd Medcruise General Assembly which was held from 13th to 17th November in Alanya (Turkey). The aim of the APB’s visit was to continue to attract new cruise ship calls for the five public-interest ports it manages in the Balearic Islands. During the Assembly, the delegation made up of the APB’s Head of Planning and Sustainability, Jorge Nasarre, and the Sales Manager, Xisca Leal, had the chance to converse with the world’s main cruise shipping companies, and exchange opinions with other ports which are also members of the Association. Medcruise is an association which aims to promote and improve ports in developing cruise traffic in the Mediterranean. The APB is a member of this organisation, which has had around one hundred members practically since it was created several decades ago.

Visit of the president of Port Authority of Balearic Islands (PAB) to Ibiza City Hall

01/09/2015

Joan Gual de Torrella, president of Port Authority of Balearic Islands (PAB) met the Mayor of Ibiza, Rafael Ruíz, following round of talks with Islands’ institutions. In the words of president of PAB, “A full collaboration between the port and the city is needed. There is a lack of integration between both Administration, which are currently working serving the citizens”. The future of Es Martell is one of the issues discussed during the meeting. To be able to decide what kind of action will be managed, both institutions shall pull port’s necessities. In the words of Gual “we need to decide what to do with Es Martell before work re-start in the next two months”. “There has been no talks about eliminating the square in that area and we will not hamper it”. On the other hand, Ibiza Mayor asked PAB to bear in mind the length of small vessels at west dock, a requirement that has been accepted by Joan Gual. “We will try to have four dynamic years to be able to solve it all up”, said Gual.

The president Joan Gual de Torrella visits Minorca

31/08/2015

The president of the Port Authority of Balearic Islands (PAB), Joan Gual de Torrella, has visited the main authorities of Minorca a few weeks after taking up his position. In fact, the fluid communication with the City Councils of the municipalities where the main harbours lie has been set as a priority. The president has been accompanied by the director of the BPA, Juan Carlos Plaza, and the delegate of the BPA in Minorca, Jesus Fernández. The visit to Minorca has started at Maó City Council, where the authorities have met the mayor Conxa Juanola and the first deputy mayor, Vicenç Tur, responsible of the economic promotion. The president of the PAB has highlighted the importance of the “agreement between all the sectors to define the future of the harbour”. The lines of action will be included in the document of the Demarcation of Port Spaces and Uses in process. Lines of action In the meeting, issues like the activities of the ferries, the promotion of cruises and of the nautical activity have been addressed. Regarding the cruises, the aim of promoting Maó’s harbour to attract smaller boats but with tourists with a higher acquisitive power has been set, an objective which would be compatible with cruises of great length. As for the nautical sector, reference has been made to the need of promoting it making investment from outside the island attractive through the services of boat repairing and with the managing of slips. In fact, the creation of a new nautical facility for large and small yachts is programmed in the area of Cala Figuera, where advantages for residents regarding the assignment of the uses of the spaces and establishments would be considered. A lot has been said also about the work that is going to communicate the harbour and the city and about the two options available: elevator or escalators. According to Joan Gual de Torrella, the council has to choose its preferred option so that the PAB can adapt its compromise of facilitating the access to the city. Visit to the CIME and Es Castell The representatives of the PAB have also visited Minorca Council, where they have met the minister of Culture, Miquel Angel Maria Ballester, and members of his team, given the absence of the president Maite Salord, who was in Palma in a meeting with the presidents of the Insular Councils. The visit to Minorca has concluded at Es Castell City Council, where the representatives of the PAB have been welcomed by its mayor Lluís Camps, with whom they have addressed the projects affecting the municipality.

Joan Gual de Torrella bets for the consensus in the management of the harbours of general interest

28/08/2015

The president of the Port Authority of Balearic Islands (PAB), Joan Gual de Torrella, is very knowledgeable about the institution, as he has participated in its Administrative Committee for seven years (2006-2013) as the president of the Chamber of Commerce of Majorca. In his first days at the forefront of the PAB he has answered the questions posed by the means of communications of the Balearic Islands regarding all that affecting the management of the harbours of general interest, like the traffic of cruisers, the port logistics, the works in the harbours or even the possible application of a tourist tax by the Government of the Balearic Islands. In all these cases, Joan Gual highlights the word “consensus” and the importance of keeping good relations with the Councils of the cities where the harbours of general interest lie. The harbour we want Gual’s main challenge as a president is, as he has noted, “thinking in the future of the harbours for the next generations”. In the case of Palma’s harbour, for example, the largest and busiest harbour of the islands, “we have to define the harbour we want for the next 30 years”, he has said. And, as previously stated, the new Council of Administration of the PAB considers it possible to undertake a rearrangement of uses and spaces without the need of extension. “The engineers of the house are working on it. If the space we have is rationalised, I think there is no need to expand the area”. The president of the PAB has highlighted in all the interviews the importance of the port management for the traffic of goods and people. He has been really explicit in his examples: “If the harbour failed, the supermarkets would be empty, the hospitals would not have oxygen and the providers of potable water would not have chlorine… this is rarely taken into account and often taken for granted. We would realise it if it failed, and we do not want it to happen”. Numbers are conclusive. 13 millions of goods and an average of 6,5 millions of passengers cross the harbours of the Balearic Islands every year. In fact, the harbours of the Balearic Islands have reached the second position in the market of cruisers in Spain and the fourth position in the Mediterranean market. Besides, the line of ferries between Eivissa and Formentera is the busiest Spanish line.

Palma City Council and the PAB start the dia-logue to define together the future of the seasi-de façade

26/08/2015

The leaders of the area of Model of City, Urbanism and Decent Housing and of the Port Authority of Balearic Islands have held the first business meeting, in which they have analysed the main current issues affecting both administrations. The meeting, celebrated in the headquarters of the PAB, was attended by Antoni Noguera, deputy mayor of the Model of City, accompanied by the manager of Urbanism Joan Riera and the director of urbanism Biel Horrach. Joan Gual de Torrella and Antoni Noguera have agreed in this meeting to start the construction of work and permanent dialogue spaces in order to make headway in the projects affecting both parts. In fact, Noguera has highlighted the good predisposition of the president of the Port Authority to open communication and coordination channels, and he has positively valued the meeting. Specifically, the attendants have analysed the future of the Seaside Promenade, have set up a second meeting in September and have planned the procedures to cede the ownership to Palma City Council. Antoni Noguera has explained that “it is a long administrative process, but in the short and medium term we could carry out exceptional projects that would help draw the future of the seaside façade. We have agreed on drawing together a more inhabitable, kinder city open to the sea and to the pedestrians”. Some of these aforementioned projects include the Aigua Dolça, a city space that the area of Model of City wants to recover for neighbours, and the connection of the neighbourhood to the sea, as well as the rearrangement of mobility in the seaside area (through the reduction of traffic lanes or the creation of more bike lanes, etc). “Everything with the objective of developing projects that will make the Seaside Promenade a great lineal civic axis, open to the citizens and to the sea”. Coordination and consensus Likewise, both the representatives of the Model of City as of the PAB have agreed to resume the mee-tings of the Coordination Commission between both administrations, an already existing dialogue space that is to be promoted periodically in order to advance and work together. In this line, the Commission will allow an agreed and optimal solution for the city in the writing of the Director Plan of the Harbour and the revision of the PGOU. Regarding the expansion project of the Molinar’s harbour, both Gual de Torrella and Noguera consider the first and the second project presented by the owners disproportionate. Noguera reminds that “The City Council has the firm commitment to refurbishing and rearranging the club, whenever it is compatible with the parameters and the maintenance of the current dimensions. Both administrations are interested in combining this objective with the continuity of the Sea Club with social vocation”. Finally, the need to find an agreed solution for the present and future of the beach club of S’Avançada of San Carlos bunker has been considered. “Palma City Council and the Port Authority will work together to find a solution within the framework of the modifications established by the Ministry of Culture, in order to guarantee the protection of the patrimonial value of the surroundings of the bunker”. In the following days both administrations will hold new meetings to address this issue..

The ports of Balearic Islands receive 13 million goods per year

24/08/2015

Nearly 13 million goods passed through general interest ports managed by Port Authority of Balearic Islands (PAB) in one year, figure that increases every year since last 2011 thus indicating Balearic Islands’ economic activity also increases. Palma, Alcúdia, Maó, Ibiza and La Savina (Formentera) are the getaway for goods received in the islands. goods that are being distributed to the companies for sell and consumption. In fact, 95% of PAB activity is focused in good logistics. 12,6 million goods and 625.000 vehicles reached Balearic Islands’ ports last year. There is a slightly higher forecast for current 2015. We mean not just vehicles and goods but also persons. 6,4 million people passed through island’s ports whether in cruises or transportation ferries in 2014. It is possible to reach 6,6 million people at the end of 2015, around 200.000 more passengers. General Interest ports are strategic in Balearic Islands because they are the getaway for both passengers and goods, this is why PAB is an institution under the responsibility of the Ministry of Public Works and Development but also strongly linked to Balearic Islands’ Government and City Halls of the cities where they are located, represented on its Management Board, together with business and trade union entities.

Good quality of the coastal waters in the harbours of general interest of the Balearic Islands

17/08/2015

The Port Authority of Balearic Islands (PAB) has carried out a control plan of the quality of the waters of the coastal areas and the anchoring and maritime access areas of the harbours of general interest, with the aim of keeping an eye on the environmental quality and managing the possible polluting episodes. Thus, a management program suggested by the State Ports Authority –the ROM 5.1- has been voluntarily applied in collaboration with the firm Grupo Daphnia. After analysing the water of the harbours of Palma and Alcúdia in Majorca, Maó’s harbour in Minorca, Eivissa’s harbour and the Savina harbour in Formentera it has been concluded that the level of quality is good according to the European standards. Attention to torrents Despite the good quality of the water, it has been observed that the water coming from the cities through the torrents may cause some polluting focal points, especially due to the so-called “fang anòxic” settled in the harbour beds and reaching the surface with heavy rains and the boats’ movement. In fact, the regulation of bathing water is met throughout almost the whole year, except during heavy rains. The drains cause the same polluting effect, especially in Maó. For this reason the PAB works to collaborate with other administrations and improve the quality of the coastal waters of the cities. The application of the ROM 5.1 requires the segmentation of the harbours in a minimum number of areas in order to concentrate the water analysis works. In the case of Palma’s harbour, these areas have been exceeded in order to guarantee a throughout control of its waters.

Joan Gual de Torrella Guasp takes up the post of Chairman of the Port Authority of the Balearic Islands

14/08/2015

The Spanish Official Gazette today published the Spanish Development Ministry Order detailing the appointment of Joan Gual de Torrella Guasp as the new Chairman of the Port Authority of the Balearic Islands (APB) to replace the outgoing Chairman, Alberto Pons Fernández. The new Chairman, who was born in Palma de Majorca in 1956, was a member of the APB’s Board of Directors from 2006 to 2013, representing the Majorcan Chamber of Commerce. He has had close ties to the Chamber over the past two decades and was its Chairman from 2006-2013. On the business front, he founded MENU Mallorca and was the firm’s Managing Director from 1979 to 2014. He is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the Majorcan Economic Society, which he promoted and of which he was Deputy Chairman, and is a member of the Economic and Social Council at the University of the Balearic Islands, a position he has held since 2006. He also chaired INSULEUR, the Network of the Insular Chambers of Commerce of the European Union from 2009 to 2014. He held different positions in the Higher Council of the Spanish Chambers of Commerce, chairing the Tourism Committee, and in the Association of the Mediterranean Chambers of Commerce (ASCAME), and the International Chamber of Commerce (CCI). He also promoted and chaired the Bonaire-Santo Sepulcro Trade Association, the Balearic Islands’ Young Entrepreneurs Association, and the Spanish Young Entrepreneurs Association. He was also a member of the Board of Directors of CAEB, and a member of the Executive Committee of the European Confederation of Young Entrepreneurs YES FOR EUROPE. He was a member of the Majorcan Tourist Board for seven years, a Commissioner for the Balearic Islands in the Euroregion Pyrenees-Mediterranean EGTC, a member of ENDESA’s Balearic Islands Regional Council, and of the University-Business Foundation Trust (FUE).

Port Authority of Balearic Islands (APB) earmarks more than EUR 37 million for Balearic Islands’ public interest ports in 2016

06/08/2015

Initial Budget Proposal for 2016 confirms that APB will invest EUR 37,6 million in Balearic Islands’ public interest ports. EUR 9 million will be earmarked for Palma Port –basically, for Dique del Oeste remodelling– according to Ministry of Public Works.EUR 5,7 million have been allocated to Botafoc docks (Eivissa). Finally, EUR 4 million will be earmarked for Maó Port (Menorca) for both Cós Nou dock and also to fund other necessary investments.