New projects for the future of the Port of Bilbao

After closing the 2022 financial year with a positive result, the Port Authority continues to work to make Bilbao a more competitive port, to attract new traffic, to expand its hinterland and to become a benchmark in #Sustainability. Issues to be factored in to achieve this include the signing of the 6-year stevedoring agreement, thereby ensuring labour stability, ongoing projects and a planned investment of EUR 43.6 million for this year to move forward in the energy transition, #Digitalisation, infrastructure development, #Intermodality, innovation and port-city relations.?

Among the planned actions is the BilbOPS project for the electrification of the docks, which will enable ships to connect to the power grid and turn off their auxiliary engines during their stay in port, thus saving fuel and reducing #GHGEmissions, noise and vibrations. With a budget of EUR 52.5 million, this initiative, which combines service and sustainability, is scheduled to be commissioned in 2025, and is 30% co-financed by the European Commission through the CEF Transport 2021-2027 programme. The project will have a direct impact on the quality of life of the more than 125,000 people who live in the area, of the 215,000 passengers who pass through the port every year and of the more than 10,000 people who work every day in the Port of Bilbao.

Another major #SustainabilityProject, the result of a collaboration agreement between the Basque Water Agency (#URA), the Bilbao Bizkaia Water Consortium and the Port Authority, is the improvement of the sewerage system of some of the docks, with an investment of around EUR 18 million by URA and the Port Authority. The first phase of the project is about to start and the second phase will soon be awarded. Designed to meet current and future demands, the network of collectors will channel sanitary and industrial water to the Galindo Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP), thereby providing more sustainable and professional water management and limiting discharges into the sea to rainwater and cooling water, the polluting potential of which is lower.

In terms of #Intermodality, in addition to approving its Railway Safety Management System, the Port Authority is now assuming the management of rail traffic and port shunting manoeuvres, and is in talks with ADIF to take over the operation of the railway container terminal. Likewise, a contract has been awarded for the construction of a new 750-metre siding in Ordu?a. This has been assigned a budget of EUR 10.87 million, around 3 million of which will be provided by the Port Authority and the rest by ADIF , to speed up and improve the operation of freight trains between the port and the Meseta. The 4,243 trains that ran through the port in 2022 are a clear reflection of the Port Authority's commitment to intermodality, interoperability and more efficient, sustainable logistics with a lower carbon footprint.

The Port is also taking measures to extend its surface area to meet the high demand for space. Stand-out examples of this include the forthcoming tender for paving works of the extension of the AZ1 Dock, and the steps being taken to occupy the new land with strategic projects, such as the recent public tender for the award of a concession for the construction and operation of a maritime container terminal on the central breakwater.

With regard to #PortCity relations, collaboration continues with the Bilbao Port and River Foundation to conduct activities in the nine riverside municipalities, and with Bilbao PortLab to create an innovation hub in the port. Work has already begun on the construction of a new, easier access and safer footbridge over the ADIF railway tracks in Santurtzi, as a result of the agreement with the town council to improve the urban environment.?

The port community is also investing in sustainable growth. Examples of this are the Salamanca and Galicia, two new LNG-powered cruise ferries commissioned by Brittany Ferries which are more environmentally friendly and which are servicing their routes to the United Kingdom and Ireland, and the introduction of three of the world's most efficient ships for services to Northern Europe and the Baltic by Finnlines , part of the Grimaldi Group . Both companies have reaffirmed their commitment to Bilbao by increasing both the capacity of their vessels and the number of services provided. Furthermore, WEC Lines has recently started a new service between Bilbao and Liverpool, and the company Ellerman City Liners has launched a direct weekly container shipping service between the east coast of the USA and Bilbao.

Other private sector projects already completed include the Repsol terminal for the supply of #LiquefiedNaturalGas (#LNG), with an investment of EUR 10 million and co-financed through the CEF-Connecting Europe Facility Programme. Petronor/Repsol also plan to construct a synfuels production plant, with an investment of EUR 103 million. For its part, Haizea Wind Group will expand its facilities to manufacture XXL monopiles, for an estimated investment of EUR 150 million and with a multi-year time frame. Similarly, Consignaciones Toro y Betolaza has invested EUR 5 million in the expansion of its terminal for conventional and ro-ro cargo on Docks A6 and A5, and the terminal Depósitos Portuarios, S.A. has invested EUR 1 million in the construction of six storage tanks for agri-food and agri-fuel liquid bulk, with a further four tanks to be added in 2023.