Goods from the port of Barcelona will not begin to leave for France until Thursday
The infrastructure sector is calling for a contingency plan to avoid a blockage like the one experienced in recent weeks.
BarcelonaThe rail chaos in Catalonia has had a major impact on operations at the Port of Barcelona and all the goods that usually leave daily by train from its terminals. the Gelida commuter train accidentThe train accident that resulted in the death of a driver has affected trains traveling south. This disruption has intensified since last week, when the Rubí tunnel, used by trains connecting to France, had to be closed. This situation has led to the national and international disruption of the Port of Barcelona and a 10% increase in daily truck traffic at the port to handle container shipments.
"The future is rail," declared the president of the Port of Barcelona, José Alberto Carbonell, at the annual press conference on financial results, which were overshadowed this Tuesday by the events of recent weeks. "The flow of goods sustains our country's economic activity. All of this has highlighted the importance of land transport, whether road or rail. The port needs a reliable network: a contingency plan is necessary to prevent this from happening again," Carbonell emphasized, accompanied by the port's general manager, Àlex Garcia. The Port of Barcelona declined to quantify the economic impact of this disruption, which directly affects rail operators and freight forwarders, but acknowledged "reputational damage." For the time being, no ships have diverted traffic to other ports.
After a blockade lasting two weeks, Barcelona's rail infrastructure hopes to gradually recover freight traffic throughout this week, although no date has yet been given for full restoration. For the moment, it is expected that the Rubí tunnel, whose structure has shown cracks for some time, will resume train traffic starting this Thursday, although passage will not be permitted throughout the day. Trains connecting to Europe will have to coexist with the emergency works being carried out by Adif to address the structural deficiencies that had been detected and for which improvement works had already been put out to tender and which have had to be expedited.
On the other hand, trains heading south and carrying goods to the rest of Spain will be able to resume service on the line through Gelida – the R4 line – starting next Monday. After three days without any service, this traffic was redirected to the Vilanova line – the R2 line – with limited nighttime service, at a capacity that has been reduced to around 25% of what it was before the accident. This is the largest flow of rail traffic through the port, accounting for almost 80%, with Zaragoza as the main destination. Before the strike, there were 22 trains a day on a normal day, while international trains only account for three daily services.
The disruption that the Port of Barcelona has been experiencing for weeks has already begun to ease at the Port of Tarragona. Since it doesn't handle many trains to France, the Tarragona rail infrastructure has been recovering from the impact of the Gelida accident. In its case, the impact was caused by the rail service disruptions that followed the Gelida accident, given that freight trains share the same tracks as commuter trains.
The Port consolidates a turnover exceeding €200 million
Despite a rocky start to the year, the Port of Barcelona closed 2015 with a turnover of €206 million. This marks the second consecutive year with a turnover exceeding €200 million, as announced by Deputy Director General of Finance, Miriam Alaminos, at Tuesday's press conference. Profits fell to €47 million due to €10 million in financing. BIT's new coffee terminalFurthermore, the debt decreased by €18 million, reaching approximately €88 million, which reinforces a "sound financial position" that will allow the execution of the intensive investment cycle that began last year with €332.5 million in tenders and will continue this year with €338.7 million. Some of the projects to be launched include the construction of a road interchange, pending the long-awaited rail access, and the widening of the Puerta de Europa bridge.
These economic results were accompanied by a total traffic volume of 69.5 million tons, in line with the previous year's figure. This balance is primarily due to the decline in container traffic and the increase in liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports. Transshipment container traffic fell by approximately 21%, stabilizing after the peak recorded the previous year following the closure of the Suez Canal. The overall traffic was also negatively impacted by a 15% decrease in solid bulk cargo due to the temporary shutdown of one of the soybean processing plants at the port. On the other hand, the nearly 22% increase in liquid bulk cargo offset the overall traffic decline, mainly due to the growth in gasoline and LNG imports. In the latter case, the increase was driven by the blackout last April, which triggered a surge in gas consumption. This also resulted in a significant rise in imports from the United States, which now account for a third of all gas entering the port. Imports of automobiles have also increased, by 43%, especially those from China, which represent 45% of the total.