News APB | Ports de Balears

The Unimarina Experts’ Committee visits the APB’s facilities

26/11/2013

Today, Alberto Pons, the Chairman of the Port Authority of the Balearic Islands (APB), and representatives of the Balearic Islands marina industry held a meeting at the APB offices in the Port of Palma with the executive members of the Unimarina Experts’ Committee who are currently visiting Palma to finalise the details for the official launch of this global distribution platform for marinas at the next Palma Boat Show. Unimarina (GDS-Marinas) is the name given to this tool aimed at carrying out online marina transactions, which is just as revolutionary as the first Global Distribution Systems (GDS) were for airports and airlines in the 1970s. Unimarina has been jointly developed by Portbooker and Travelport with the support and active participation of the State Agency for Innovation Management and Tourism Technology (Segittur) which is dependent on the Secretary of State for Tourism. The main stakeholders in the region’s pleasure boat industry coincided that the GDS for marinas developed by the Majorcan company, Portbooker, together with Travelport will constitute a landmark in the business management of marinas around the world, as it will bring all online marina service operations together under one umbrella. In addition to highlighting the important existing market in the Balearic Islands in terms of the implementation of new technologies for marinas, the APB Chairman, Alberto Pons, also pointed out to the Unimarina Experts’ Committee “the sector’s huge development potential on the islands of Majorca, Minorca and Ibiza” . For further information, go to www.unimarina.org.

Alberto Pons meets Trasmediterránea

25/11/2013

Today, the APB Chairman, Alberto Pons, met up with the Chairman of Trasmediterránea, Jorge Vega-Penichet, as part of the round of contacts he has initiated since he took up the position. The meeting between the two chairmen took place at the APB’s offices at the Port of Palma, and was also attended by the APB Director, Juan Carlos Plaza the Trasmediterránea General Manager, Ignacio Aguilera, and the shipping company’s manager in the Balearic Islands, Antonio Mercant. Trasmediterránea, which belongs to the Acciona group, is one of the APB’s main clients, and has an important presence in the public-interest ports the APB manages on the islands.

The Port Authority of the Balearic Islands exhibits the entries submitted to the 4th Balearic Island port and lighthouse painting and photography competition

25/11/2013

From 29th November to 10th January 2014, the Port Authority of the Balearic Islands (APB) will be exhibiting the entries submitted to the 4th Painting and Photography Competition at the Palma Military Culture and History Centre. The event has been organised in conjunction with the Palma de Majorca Fine Arts Society. The competition has received over 300 entries by artists from all the islands. These entries have been divided into three categories: watercolour, other painting techniques and photography. Around one hundred works have been pre-selected and will be exhibited from Friday in the Santa Margarita cloister on the Calle San Miguel de Palma. The competition awards, which include prize money of over €8,000, will be presented to the winners on Friday evening by the APB Chairman, Alberto Pons, and the Chairman of the Fine Arts Society, Gaspar Sabater. The exhibition will subsequently be moved to Mahon, and then to San Antonio on the island of Ibiza. Likewise, the idea of exhibiting some of the entries in Alcudia next June is also being studied. This is the fourth consecutive year that the APB has sponsored this competition on the Balearic Island lighthouses and the public-interest ports of Palma, Alcudia, Mahon, Ibiza and La Savina. The aim of the competition is to reflect the general interest in these everyday yet unique places through art.

The Port of Maó tenders the management of the moorings at the D’en Reynés dry dock area

21/11/2013

The Port Authority of the Balearic Islands (APB) is to tender the authorisation for managing the moorings at the D’en Reynés dry dock area on the Levante Quay at the Port of Maó, after accepting the company Menorca Moorings, S.L.’s withdrawal from the concession. The authorisation will be given for a period of one year. During this time, the APB aims to approve new tender conditions to award a new concession for the management of these moorings. If the concession tender has not been awarded by the end of this period, the authorisation may be extended for a further year. The aim of this first tender is to award a temporary authorisation for the management of 48 moorings for boats between 8 and 30 metres long on a total water surface of almost 11,000 square metres with 224 metres of quayside. The minimum annual charge threshold is €130,844.57. On 31st October, the APB’s Board of Directors accepted Menorca Moorings, S.L.’s withdrawal from the concession to manage the moorings at the D’en Reynés dry dock area. At the same meeting, the Board approved the terms and conditions governing the public tender for the authorisation to manage these moorings.

Alberto Pons visits the Port of Alcudia with its Mayor, Coloma Terrasa

15/11/2013

Today, the APB Chairman, Alberto Pons, visited the Port of Alcudia alongside the town’s Mayor, Coloma Terrasa, with whom he discussed the main issues affecting this port. The visit was part of the round of contacts the Chairman has undertaken to the five public interest ports in the Balearic Islands since he took up the post in October. The APB Director, Juan Carlos Plaza, and the Port of Alcudia’s Director, Joan Gili, also took part in the visit. Both Pons and Terrasa coincide in the potential of this port, which has modern, user-friendly facilities, both in attracting more cruise ships as well as other types of regular or non-regular traffic. Pons also met representatives of the Port of Alcudia’s port community, and visited the Alcudiamar Marina’s facilities.

Alberto Pons makes his first official visit to the Port of Ibiza

08/11/2013

Today, the APB Chairman, Alberto Pons, visited the Port of Ibiza to get first-hand information from the port community on the main issues affecting this public-interest port. In a series of industry encounters, Pons met the Harbourmaster’s Office, port pilots, the fishing guild, Trasmediterránea, ANADE, APEAM, Transcoma, Baleària, the Tourism Promotion Association, the Chamber of Commerce, the Residents Association, the Engineers Association, CAEB and PIMEEF, amongst other organisations. Pons also met the Chairman of the Formentera Island Council, Jaume Ferrer, and the Spanish Central Government representative in Ibiza and Formentera, Rafael García. The meeting with the President of the Ibiza Island Council and the Mayor of Ibiza had to be postponed as it clashed with other official engagements. At midday, Alberto Pons and an APB delegation also met the Ibiza Yacht Club Chairman, Juan Marí, to get an insight into the Club’s current situation. The APB Chairman also took advantage of the trip to visit the port’s facilities and meet the staff, on the day the new boarding walkways at the Botafoc Quays came into operation.

APB and Ports IB agree to unify pleasure craft criteria in the Balearic Islands

07/11/2013

The APB Chairman, Alberto Pons, and the Balearic Islands Regional Government Director-General of Ports and Airports, Antonio Deudero, met this morning at the Ports IB headquarters in Palma to try to implement joint actions to unify pleasure craft criteria in the Balearic Islands and offer users a sole, well-defined service. Firstly, and taking into account the different legal framework of both organisations (one is a national body whilst the other is a regional entity), the APB Chairman believes that it is essential to promote “a legal rapprochement in which there is room for both organisations”. In terms of tourist promotion of pleasure craft activities, the APB and Ports IB agreed to join forces in specific promotion activities such as tourism fairs, alongside other sectors such as the hotel industry. Another point on the agenda was the management of pleasure craft that have been abandoned or are in arrears as these constitute a considerable problem for the islands’ boat facilities. The APB Director, Juan Carlos Plaza, and the Ports IB Managing Director, David Gómez, also took part in the meeting.

The new boarding walkways come into operation at the Port of Ibiza’s Botafoc Quays

06/11/2013

On Friday 8th November, the Port Authority of the Balearic Islands (APB) will begin to use the new boarding walkways at the Botafoc Quays which aim to provide passengers and shipping companies with improved services, security and amenities at the Port of Ibiza. This constitutes yet another service at the port’s new facilities which began to cater for regular goods and passenger traffic on 1st July. In parallel, the temporary passenger terminal, which was built to provide an interim service until the permanent facility comes into operation, began to operate at the end of October. As of next Friday, two permanent walkways and four mobile gangways will be available for ferry passengers boarding and disembarking at the 1500 square-metre temporary passenger terminal, which will be used by the Acciona-Trasmediterránea y Baleària ferry operators. The tender for these walkways was €7.5 million. However, the work is not totally finished as a section of one of the permanent walkways is still to be completed and a fifth mobile gangway still to be installed on the Ribera del Botafoc Quay. Port reorganisation On 1st July, the APB moved commercial traffic to the new Botafoc Quays, thus freeing up the Levante Dock. This new area has facilities for embarking and pre-embarking goods and vehicles, as well as car parks for cars, coaches, taxis and buses.

Alberto Pons visits the Port of Maó

24/10/2013

Today, the APB Chairman, Alberto Pons, visited the Port of Maó on what was his first official visit since he took up the position. The aim of the visit was to get to know the Minorcan authorities personally, tackle the most conflictive issues facing the port community and try to find solutions to them. The first stop-off point was a courtesy visit to the port facilities to meet the Port of Maó’s staff. Pons then boarded a boat to visit the port area by sea. This was followed by a series of institutional visits to the island’s authorities, including meetings with the President of the Minorca Island Council, Santiago Tadeo, the Spanish Central Government representative in Minorca, Javier López-Cerón, the Mayor of Maó, Águeda Reynés, and the Mayor of Es Castell, Lluís Camps. In the afternoon, Pons chaired several meetings with members of the port community to get their impressions about the issues that affect the port, and then gave a speech at the Maó Ateneo. The APB Chairman revealed that the Port of Maó is a “priority” and highlighted its “potential” and his confidence in its future.

The APB Chairman meets the Balearic Island Yacht Club Association

17/10/2013

This morning, the Chairman of the Port Authority of the Balearic Islands (APB), Alberto Pons, welcomed a delegation from the Balearic Island Yacht Club Association, in what was their first meeting since Pons’ appointment as head of the public body. The Association’s Chairman, Miguel Suñer, representatives of its Board of Directors, and other club members, informed the APB Chairman about the main concerns of the islands´ yacht clubs. Alberto Pons listened to the Association’s requests and promised to deal individually with the specific problems faced by each of the yacht clubs located on public port land managed by the APB.

Seven cruise ships to coincide at the Port of Palma next Saturday

17/10/2013

On Saturday 19th October, seven cruise ships are scheduled to call at the Port of Palma and will coincide for several hours at the Majorcan capital’s facilities. The vessels are the AIDAvita, Thomson Dream, Queen Victoria, Albatros, L’Austral, Norwegian Epic and Alexander von Humboldt II, which means that around thirteen thousand people will be using the Port of Palma´s facilities on the same day. This will equal the record of seven simultaneous calls at the Port of Palma set on 10th October 2008, although on this occasion the total number of passengers was lower at 8,500. For further details about these calls, go to www.portsdebalears.com.

Pons and Reynés meet in Palma to analyse the latest developments at the Port of Maó, with special emphasis on the dredging project

15/10/2013

This morning, the Chairman of the Port Authority of the Balearic Islands (APB), Alberto Pons, met the Mayor of Maó, Águeda Reynés, in Palma, to discuss the latest developments affecting the Port of Maó and study the actions to be taken over the port’s dredging project, after the Environmental Public Prosecutor’s Office last week filed the complaint made by the GOB Ecology group which had alleged that the project was a criminal offence. Pons informed Reynés that the APB has already contacted the Spanish Oceanography Institute (IEO) about studying the potential impact on the ecosystem of the discharge of mud from the port, as the Environmental Public Prosecutor’s Office suggested in its report. In parallel, the APB is restarting the dredging procedures with a new campaign to collect samples and update permits, after the six-month temporary suspension ordered by the Prosecutor’s Office as a result of the GOB’s formal complaint. Both the APB and the Maó City Council are highly sensitised to the issues surrounding the dredging project, including the heritage aspect. Along these lines, the meeting participants agreed to pay special attention to the archaeological study and the procedure to be followed should any site of interest be found at the bottom of the Maó waters. Both institutions committed to following any recommendations made by the Minorcan Island Council, which is responsible for heritage. The meeting was also attended by the recently appointed APB Director, Juan Carlos Plaza the Maó Council’s Deputy Mayor of Institutional Relations, Simón Gornés, and the Deputy Mayor of General Services and the Port, Salvador Botella. During this first meeting after the appointment of Alberto Pons as the APB Chairman other port issues were briefly dealt with and the commitment to discuss them in greater depth on another occasion was made.