The development of the fishing business and the beginnings of industrialisation

The increasing use of road and rail transport by the citrus fruit sector meant that the port went through a difficult period when its future seemed uncertain. It was only the increase in the fishing business which allowed the port to survive as a fishing  port and as a centre for leisure activities, but with very little commercial activity.  

The crisis of 1964 was overcome thanks to the activity of ship-breaking companies which provided income for the port. But only the rapid development of other industries in the province allowed the port to revive. First was the Fertiberia factory which was established in the northern area of the port, where it could make use of a terminal where ships carrying ammonia could unload directly into their silos. Over the years, however, the activities of this factory were subject to protests by local residents which finally lead to negotiations between the company and the local Town Council to transfer the factory to a site sufficiently far away from urban areas.   

In the end this agreement was never carried out as the company went bankrupt leading to the factory being definitively closed. By that time Castellón had embarked on a process of industrialisation based around the ceramics industry that would soon displace orange growing as the principal economic activity of the province.