Port of Valencia to construct a new container terminal

Puertos del Estado, dependent on the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda has resolved to “issue a FAVOURABLE REPORT on the construction project for the container quay of the northern extension of the Port of Valencia”.

The conclusions of the State Ports report state that “the works included in the project fulfil the required functions in relation to the improvement of competitiveness of the Port of Valencia in containerised goods traffic, through the execution of a new functional and operational container terminal that completes the northern extension of the port. Likewise, the works included in the project achieve sufficient technical reliability in terms of hydraulic, geotechnical and structural stability”.

The president of the Port Authority of Valencia, Aurelio Martínez, presented the details of the State Ports report on the new terminal to the members of the APV Board of Directors who met this morning in the Clock Building.

The OPPE document makes some final prescriptions and recommendations to the PAV when approving the construction project for the north container terminal.

Thus, it indicates that the PAV, “as the promoter and substantive body of the action, must issue a certification that the project does not need to be submitted to a new environmental procedure, prior to its approval”, a usual requirement to the body promoting the works, which is requested from the port authorities. The project, as reflected by Puertos del Estado, includes all the necessary elements of judgement to issue said certification; therefore, the report received once again supports the criterion that a new environmental impact study is not necessary, not even an abbreviated one, as none of the assumptions of Law 21/2013 on environmental assessment are breached.

In its favourable report on the new terminal, Puertos del Estado states that the project must be completed with the characterisation of the materials to be dredged in the Port of Sagunto, an aspect that the PAV will present in the coming weeks. This observation refers to the carrying out of tests to analyse the seabed material to be dredged.

It also indicates that the consolidation times that appear in the project after the anchoring and filling of caissons and after the execution of the preloading on the new esplanade are considered minimum times and should be included in the specifications for the contracting of the works so that they can be considered by the bidders.

Puertos del Estado recommends “reconsidering the junction of the container quay, maintaining the level of the last caisson at -20 metres, the same as the rest of the quay and resolving the junction with a submerged concrete section that bridges the two-metre difference between the quay and the breakwater. In the initial project, the junction of the container quay (founded at -20m) with the outer breakwater is resolved by reducing the foundation level of the last caisson of the quay to -18 metres”.

Finally, it suggests concluding the trial on small container ships to ensure the operability of the terminal for the widest possible fleet of container ships.

These are prescriptions and recommendations that the Port Authority of Valencia will incorporate into the project in the coming weeks.

The report of Puertos del Estado on the construction project of the container quay of the northern extension of the Port of Valencia, as well as the Technical Specifications for the construction variants of the works, has been ratified with the signature of its president, Álvaro Rodríguez Dapena; the director of Planning and Development of Puertos del Estado, Manuel Arana and the head of Infrastructures Projects of Puertos del Estado, Gonzalo Gómez.

With the favourable report from Puertos del Estado presented today to the Board of Directors of the PAV, the project for the new container terminal in sheltered waters of the northern extension of the Port of Valencia completes one more phase of its administrative processing.

A new EIS is not necessary

The report of the construction project analysed and approved by Puertos del Estado includes an annex called “Necessity of submission to the simplified environmental impact assessment procedure of the construction project of the container quay of the northern extension of the Port of Valencia” of December 2021 which concludes that the different modifications introduced in the project analysed by Puertos del Estado with respect to the original project environmentally assessed at the time “do not have effects on the environment, additional to those already considered in the aforementioned resolution; therefore none of the cases established in letter C (of the second section of article 7 of Law 21/2013 on environmental assessment” are present, which are:

• A significant increase in emissions into the atmosphere.
• A significant increase in discharges into public watercourses or onto the coastline.
• A significant increase in the generation of waste.
• A significant increase in the use of natural resources.
• An impact on Natura 2000 Network Protected Areas.
• A significant impact on cultural heritage.

1. With regard to the “significant increase in atmospheric emissions”, the annex states that the project does not represent an increase in emissions with respect to that which has a favourable EIS, but on the contrary, it represents a reduction in emissions.

2. Regarding the “significant increase in discharges to public waterways or the coast”, it indicates that “in the case of the 2021 project, the effects of dispersion and sedimentation are practically negligible, so we can affirm that there will be no increase in the dispersion of fine materials”. On this point, Puertos del Estado adds that in the project for the new terminal “there will be no increase in fine materials affecting the protected areas located in the vicinity of the Port”.

3. In relation to the hypothetical significant increase in the generation of waste, the annex states that “the project proposes the maximum use of the materials resulting from the demolitions to be carried out, the material from the dredging and the removal or dismantling of the existing installations. It is therefore concluded that there will be no increase in the generation of waste’.

4. Regarding the concern about a possible significant increase in the use of natural resources, the document states that “the solution proposed in the project is based, as a relevant element, on the complete reuse of materials from the dismantling or demolition of existing infrastructures, which avoids the generation of waste, as well as minimising the need to extract new natural resources for this purpose. It is concluded that not only is there not a significant increase in the use of natural resources, but also a reduction in the amount of natural resources to be used”.

5. With regard to the possible impact on Protected Spaces in the Natura 2000 Network, the annex eliminates any doubt as “a reduction in the impact on protected natural spaces is foreseen with the solution of the construction project compared to the previous one, which was analysed in the Environmental Impact Study (EIA)”.

6. Finally, regarding the significant impact on cultural heritage, the report is equally conclusive: “There will be no variation in the impact on cultural heritage other than that established in the EIA of the Project with DIA of 2007. The annex to the construction project compiles the work carried out in this area to cover the need to determine that there is no effect on the underwater cultural heritage of the Valencian Community”.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE NEW TERMINAL

The container terminal planned for the inland waters of the northern extension of the Port of Valencia is a clear example of an infrastructure that combines sustainability and growth. On the one hand, the new terminal will be the most environmentally advanced in the world and, on the other hand, it will contribute to generating employment and wealth in the Valencian Community and Spain. This infrastructure will strengthen Valenciaport’s position in the Mediterranean and its work as a tractor company at the service of Spanish economic activity.

The new container terminal will involve an investment of close to 1,400 million euros: 400 million public and 1,000 million private. All of this will generate a significant economic impact both during the construction phase and when it comes into operation. According to the study on the impact of the new Container Terminal of the North Extension of the Port of Valencia, carried out by the Institute of Transport and Territory (ITRAT), in 2030, with the new terminal fully operational, the economic impact of the port of Valencia will represent in terms of added value 2.27% of the whole of the Valencian Community and employment will exceed 44,000 jobs, with an average salary of around 32,000 euros per annum. Overall, the port of Valencia will account for 2.2% of all employment in the Valencian Community.

In environmental terms, the new container terminal will be a smoke-free space, as it will minimise CO2 emissions by supplying electricity to cranes and yard machinery, and to container ships. The project presented by TIL/MSC to Valenciaport includes the electrification of 98% of the driving components and installations of the terminal; and in addition, 100% of the electricity will come from renewable sources, which in turn will imply a 98% reduction in CO2 emissions.

In this line, automation, the use of advanced traffic prediction systems, the design of the buildings with energy efficiency criteria, and the external lighting system with LED-type luminaires will minimise energy consumption. In its project, TIL makes an important commitment to intermodality and offers to develop a railway terminal equipped with six 1,000-metre-long tracks, with the capacity to move 305,000 TEUs/year by rail.