A fine project

Barcelona leverages car terminals for project cargo

The Port of Barcelona is handling ever greater quantities of project cargo, especially pieces in transit. Inbound and outbound traffic amounts to around 125,000 tons annually, with growth of around 5% annually. Exports usually account for 70% of the total and imports 30%.

Lluís París, the port authority’s commercial manager, notes that the majority of project cargo that flows through the port tends to be specialist vehicles or heavy machinery such as cranes or industrial reactors.

However, the port has yet to cash in on the burgeoning wind farm sector, given the large amount of space required. In contrast, passenger boarding bridges produced for cruise terminals around the world are an area in which Barcelona now specialises.

“Our cruise activity has boosted the development of a support sector, which uses available quayside space to undertake the final assembly of these structures, which are then loaded on to special vessels for onward transit,” he says.

Asked whether the very nature of project cargo means that it is essentially ‘captive’ to certain ports, Mr París partially agrees, although also points out that Barcelona is also particularly well placed as it as two finished vehicles terminals and regular services from car carrying lines that will also accept mobile heavy machinery. This in turn leads to even more of this type of consignment heading for the city.

“The various multi-purpose terminals in the port have invested in cranes and modern lifting equipment to be able to handle project cargo. At the same time, the port authority has continued to improve access to allow the manoeuvring of these objects to be undertaken much faster and more efficiently,” he says.

Looking ahead, Mr París remains confident that the current upward trend in project cargo handling at Barcelona will continue, which he attributes to the success the port has so far had in attracting the specialist lines necessary.

“The future development of the new El Prat harbour will make available extensive surface areas with direct connections to the highway and motorway network, which in turn will make it easier to transport these very large pieces,” he says.

And some consignments really are huge. In 2014, for example, a 320-tonne crane was loaded on board a specially equipped vessel, with the whole operation undertaken without a hitch.