The Port of Barcelona will put out to tender for €98 million a large road junction

The meeting of the Port of Barcelona Management Board started the tender process for the large road junction that will connect the new accesses with the road network of the port area. The project involves building a large raised roundabout over the former mouth of the Llobregat River, which will facilitate vehicle mobility in the southern area of the port precinct.

This will become the Port of Barcelona's most significant road infrastructure, allowing it to absorb the increased traffic resulting from the construction of new road accesses to the Port of Barcelona and the future Catalunya wharf, plus the enlargement of the facilities at the Prat wharf, which will concentrate almost all of the port's container traffic in the southern area.

The new infrastructure will be compatible with the major railway complex to be developed in the old Llobregat Riverbed. It further includes building a large service gallery enabling interconnection beneath the junction and the entire railway infrastructure. This was the justification for choosing a raised roundabout with three large entrance and exit branches. The first will connect with the future port access highway; the second will connect with the container terminals in the southern area; and the third, with the terminals north of the old river mouth.

This last branch will be provisional, since the final connection with the north area of the port, taking the form of an elevated viaduct, will have to be built after the future pontoon-type mooring point 35B, which will condition the spaces needed to develop this section.

The monetary value of the works project —98 million euros ex-VAT— and the three-and-a-half year performance period means the tender process must be approved by the Council of Ministers.

The Port of Barcelona Management Board has also awarded contracts to FCC and COMSA to build the three new berths for loading and unloading liquid bulk on the east side of the Energy wharf. The works will cost €111.5 million and are to be completed in three years and two months.

Construction of these new berths, similar to the current berth 34B, is part of the plan to increase the capacity to handle liquid bulk at the Energy wharf while reorganizing traffic by type of product. These new berths, together with the future 35 type pontoons, will be used mainly for loading and unloading sustainable fuels, boosting the decarbonization of transport and logistics and reinforcing the Port of Barcelona's role as the energy hub for southern Europe and the Mediterranean.

Once operational, together with berth 35, the increased capacity will allow berth 32 on the west side of the Energy wharf to be refurbished for exclusive use in chemical and agri-food product operations. It will also be possible to create a new berth for car carriers in the inner basin to meet the needs of increasing vehicle imports.

The construction works will involve reinforcing the current berth 34B with new mooring points and extending the existing pit on the east side of the Energy wharf to ensure proper connection of the unloading arms that will connect the ships to the different terminals.