The Port of Barcelona is going to increase its capacity, improve its efficiency and promote sustainability through a US$82 million loan agreement between the European Investment Bank (EIB) and Barcelona's ZAL Port service centre.
New logistics and warehousing facilities will be constructed over the next two years to increase the port's warehousing capacity by around 1,000,000 m² and support some 4,000 new direct jobs and 6,000 indirect jobs in the logistics and transport sectors.
The Port of Barcelona is one of the biggest in Spain and occupies a strategic position on routes within the Mediterranean Corridor.
Increasing its logistics capacity will therefore have a positive economic impact for Barcelona, but also Spain as a whole, as the Port Barcelona will be able to reduce costs in the management of transport connections and be more competitive.
The project will also contribute to tackling climate change by promoting intermodality and the construction of new buildings in the expansion of the port’s logistics zone will see the application of energy efficiency measures.
Román Escolano, EIB Vice-President, said: “The EIB financing for this project will help to facilitate investments at the Port of Barcelona that will generate sustainable economic growth and employment throughout the area.
“The project’s impact will also reach the Mediterranean Corridor, which will benefit from both the expansion of logistics at this major port and the increase in its services offer enabling it to access more customers.”
Alfonso Martínez, Director General of Centro Intermodal de Logistica, which operates an intermodal logistics platform on the Port of Barcelona, stressed that “this new EIB backing for the ZAL Port project will enable us to carry out 100% of our development plans for the next four years, turning us into the benchmark logistics zone of the Mediterranean”.
