The new Maliaño Pier is ready to receive larger and more sustainable ships.
The work, which has had an execution period of 18 months, has meant an investment of 28 million euros and has been financed by the European Union.
The president of the Port Authority, Francisco Martin, stressed that the port "has fulfilled its objective and has made a monumental economic and human effort to give a boost to its infrastructure and provide companies with the necessary tools to strengthen their business".
Santander 10-03-23. The president of the Port Authority of Santander, Francisco Martin, has shown today, during the opening ceremony of the new docks of Maliaño 1-4, "proud" to present this new infrastructure because "it was essential to ensure the supply of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) to new ships, including the Santoña of Brittany Ferries, cope with the increase in size of ships and also improve the urban integration of the port."
To achieve this goal, the APS designed a roadmap that included the redevelopment of the area of the Maliaño Docks and the Maritime Station for which it had to relocate the ferry terminal and build an LNG supply station and the Maliaño dock in its sections 1 to 4.
Martin has highlighted "the monumental effort not only economic but also human that have made the workers of the Port Authority, construction companies and port operators to complete this work on time" and has extended this zeal to the investment of 170 million euros that "in just two years" is making the port for its modernization, optimization of its space and environmental protection and the Bay with the aim of "giving a boost to its infrastructure and provide companies with the necessary tools to strengthen their business."
For his part, the president of Cantabria, Miguel Angel Revilla, stressed that the 170 million euros that the port is investing in its infrastructure in the last two years is attracting new private investments such as the new container terminal Boluda, which "will increase the number of tons to reach 7 million".
The president has also highlighted that the transfer of the ferry terminal will allow the Maritime Station to accommodate the berthing of all cruise ships "which will make Cantabria more attractive as a destination for large shipping companies".
The director of development and planning of Puertos del Estado, Manuel Arana, explained, for his part, that this work is aligned with the pillars of the Strategic Framework of Puertos del Estado both from the point of view of improving the competitiveness of port facilities and from the environmental "to be associated with the dock with an LNG bunker that makes the ships more sustainable.
As part of the port services to be offered by the port, Repsol is finalizing the construction of a terminal for the supply of liquefied natural gas for use as marine fuel (LNG bunker). The LNG bunker terminal has a storage capacity of 1,000 m3 and supply flexibility for different vessels. This terminal will come into operation in the coming weeks and will serve, among others, the Brittany Ferries' vessel Santoña, which will operate regularly in Santander. This vessel will reduce CO2 emissions per passenger on routes between the United Kingdom and Spain by 46% and its first berth at this pier is scheduled for next Wednesday.
A consortium comprising the Port Authority, Repsol, ESK and Enagás was formed to carry out the project, including the construction of the Maliaño Dock, the LNG Bunker terminal and its associated logistics, with a grant from the European Commission under the CEF-Transport program. This project is part of the LNGhive2 strategy promoted by Puertos del Estado.
Maliaño wharf sections 1-4
The Santander Port Authority awarded this work in June 2021 to the Ferrovial Construcción S.A - Servicios Públicos y Contratas S.L. joint venture, for almost 19 million euros and a completion period of eighteen months.
The project has consisted of the demolition of the old pier, built between 1928 and 1932, which partially collapsed in 2017, and the construction of a new pier executed on piles that will serve to recover a berthing length of 390.20 meters, a width of 16 meters and 8.00 meters of draft and that will allow the berthing of ro-ro cargo ships and ro-pax ships (ferries), and occasionally, also cruise ships and small inactive ships at its southern end.
The works include, in addition to the pier, a floating ramp for ro-ro cargo with an investment of 5 million euros and a terminal for passengers and ro-ro cargo for another 5 million euros.
This action has served to transfer the regular ferry lines to Maliaño 1-4, freeing up the Muelle de Bloques and the Estación Marítima for the berthing of cruise ships.
Background
The Maliaño piers sections 1 to 7 were built between 1928 and 1938 according to the project "New reinforced concrete piers and extension of the service area" dated May 3, 1926.
It was a pile pier with a 10-meter wide deck, being possible to differentiate 2 different structural typologies along the pier. From Section 1 to almost the end of Section 6, the deck was supported on two alignments of piles and on the bank wall. And from Section 6 to Section 7, the pier was supported on three alignments of piles, including an additional alignment very close to the wall in these two sections.