10.06.2014 - 12:19
Hutchison Port Holdings (HPH) intends to make the terminal it runs in Barcelona’s Port the most productive in the world, according to Clemence Cheng, Managing Director of HPH for Europe. Cheng said that in its first two years the terminal has exceeded all expectations. The Chinese company will therefore increase its ”commitment” to Barcelona and will effect the second phase of investment at a cost of €150 million, in addition to the €315 million already invested two years ago. The President of the Catalan Government, Artur Mas, participated on Friday in a ceremony to mark the kick-off of the new phase of construction and took the opportunity to claim the right of self-determination is also in order for Barcelona’s Port to have maximum autonomy and not depend on decisions taken far away in Madrid.
Artur Mas marked the start of the new phase of expansion along with Hutchison Port Holdings Chairman Eric Ip, and the Managing Director of HPH for Europe, Clemence Cheng. Mas finished his speech in English and expressed his conviction that the ” marriage” of Catalonia and Hutchison in this project would be both enduring and mutually beneficial.
Clemence Cheng spoke previously and said that after two years of activity in the Port of Barcelona, and after the initial phase investment of €315 million, the Chinese company has seen all expected results far exceeded. The results show that the ”vision we had years ago [to invest] in Barcelona was the right one.”
Against this background, the second phase of the project becomes effective with an investment of €150 million to expand the container terminal called BEST (Barcelona Europe South Terminal). The terminal will expand from its current eight cranes and unloaders to up to eleven cranes over the next two years. Regarding the balance of the activities in the Port of Barcelona, Cheng explained that the group of terminals in Barcelona are among the most productive in the world and that this is facilitated by Hutchison´s “commitment” with “Barcelona, Catalonia, and Spain”.
The CEO of BEST, Guillermo Belcastro, intervened to explain the details of the terminal´s expansion. Once the expansion is completed, which is expected to be during the first half of 2015, the Best terminal will have 27 automated sections, and a dock of 1,500 linear meters with a depth of 16 meters, which will be equipped with eleven gantry cranes capable of operating the largest vessels sailing today.
