The Port de Tarragona took a new step yesterday in the concession of the multipurpose terminal of the Moll d"Andalusia with the opening of the envelope number two, which contains the technical documentation of the project submitted to the tender. The proposal corresponds to the joint venture between Rapport Investment Limited and PTP Ibérica, which has been the sole bidder in this process.
The open documentation now passes into the hands of the technicians, who must analyze the content before the next phase of the procedure. If the foreseen deadlines are met, in mid-May envelope number three will be opened, in which the economic proposal for the concession will appear.
The calendar of the concession enters its decisive phase
The forecast of the Port of Tarragona is that the provisional award by its board of directors could arrive by mid-June. Until then, the process remains pending the technical evaluation and subsequently the economic offer presented by the only candidacy that remains in contention.
Behind Rapport, which controls the 51% of the capital of the joint venture presented to the tender, stands the Chinese state group Cosco. The operation is framed within two of its major divisions, Cosco Shipping Ports and Cosco Shipping Bulk, which participate in Rapport with a 51% and a 49%, respectively.
Cosco enters the scene in Tarragona
The other leg of the alliance is PTP Ibérica, a subsidiary of the Argentine group PTP. This company operates a solid bulk terminal and another refrigerated terminal in the port of Cádiz. The concurrence of both firms places Tarragona in an operation of international scope in an enclave that, within the logistics sector, gains weight due to its strategic position.
Cosco already has activity in the ports of València and Barcelona. Its interest in Tarragona has been read in the sector as a movement of depth, to the point that different voices interpret it as a confirmation that the Tarragona enclave has entered the radar of international logistics.
A dock marked by the departure of DP World
The concession of Moll d"Andalusia comes after in 2023 the Autoritat Portuària de Tarragona withdrew from DP World the concession for containers in that space for failing to meet the agreed traffic objectives. In its best stage, that terminal came to move up to 250,000 TEUs.
The container stage on this quay dated back to 2008, when DP World, together with the Israeli shipping company ZIM, acquired Contarsa. Now, the port seeks a new stage for this infrastructure with a projected target of 150,000 TEUs in five years.
The logistical position of Tarragona
The Port de Tarragona relies on several arguments to strengthen its logistical appeal. Among them is intermodality, the connection with international railway gauge and the operations linked to the terminals of La Boella and Guadalajara Marchamalo. Also weighs the ZAL, considered within the sector as a particularly coveted space.
The location of Tarragona as a hub between the Mediterranean and Ebro corridors reinforces that role. The growth objective, however, is still far from the magnitudes of Barcelona and València, which today move around 4 million TEUs. Even so, the entry of an actor like Cosco in the tender for the Moll d"Andalusia opens a new expectation for the Tarragona port in an infrastructure that once again places itself at the center of the commercial and logistical strategy of the enclosure.