This week, the newly improved Port of Palma’s Poniente Quays are due to come into service having undergone extension activities, conducted in response to the heavy demand for berths in the Mediterranean which can cater for large cruise vessels.
The recently added facilities, completed within the framework of extension work, were handed over on 15th of April, and on Thursday 18th, the 292-metre long Costa Deliziosa, which has a capacity of 2,800 passengers, will be the first vessel to dock at the new quays.
The extension work on the Poniente Quays, which included adding of four new berthing lines of over 300 metres in length, was started up in 2011 by the Port Authority of the Balearic Islands (APB) in response to the interest of the main shipping lines in including Palma as a port of call on their routes. Two years later, these new facilities are about to come into service to complement the existing quays, and thus enable up to seven cruise vessels over 300 metres long to berth simultaneously at the Port of Palma.
The Port of Palma is the second largest Spanish port in terms of number of cruise passengers, the fourth in the Mediterranean and twelfth in the world.
The hand-over ceremony was attended by the Development Ministry inspector, the Port Authority Chairman, José Mª Urrutia, and representatives of the CYES-SATO-OHL consortium. The total cost of the work on the new facilities was €37.8 million.
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Press Release, April 17, 2013