Puertos del Estado issues “favourable report” for the new container terminal in the Port of Valencia

The report issued by the Public Body Puertos del Estado (OPPE) makes some final prescriptions and recommendations to the PAV when approving the construction project for the northern container terminal that Valenciaport will incorporate in the coming weeks

Puertos del Estado (OPPE), dependent on the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda (MITMA) 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 (PAV), 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.