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23-02-2024. The Chairman of the Port Authority of Castellon, Rubén Ibáñez, has today submitted to the Board of Directors a Chairman’s Office motion calling for a review in the next Business Plan of potential changes to the rebates for the province’s production sectors including the citrus fruit industry.
This was one of the items on the agenda today at the meeting of the Port Authority’s governing body which began with a minute’s silence for the victims of yesterday afternoon’s fire in a building in the Campanar district in Valencia.
Ibáñez has thus kept the promise made to Castellon’s farming organisations, which he has already met with on four occasions, to convey to the Board the farmers’ need for a review of the rates charged to bring them into line with the current situation. “The port works for and caters to the needs of its strategic sectors,” commented Ibáñez.
However, and as the head of the Port Authority has pointed out before, this review for the production sectors concerned, namely citrus, tiles and wood, will have to be implemented in the next Business Plan since “tariffs were approved back in 2022 which are still in force and it has not been possible to change them because the Business Plan has not been approved” seeing as “there is no General State Budget.”
These tariffs included a 40% rebate on the goods charge for citrus containers, which in the case of agriculture entailed a €14,188 rebate in 2023 equivalent to 0.036 cents per kilo.
Amendment of the Terminal Marítima del Grao S.L., (TMG) concession
In another item on the agenda, the Board of Directors approved an amendment to the Terminal Marítima del Grao S.L., (TMG) concession on the Ceramics Quay, which at present includes loading and unloading bulk solids, to enable it to also operate containerised and non-containerised general cargo.
The application made by TMG is considered to be of port interest “as it enhances the Port of Castellon’s competitive position in one of our target markets, general cargo, in which we seek to achieve a better situation than at present by helping to streamline capacity increases at the TMG terminal,” said the Chairman of the Port Authority of Castellon, Rubén Ibáñez.
Furthermore, the application to extend TMG’s concession “is in line with the PAC’s strategy to make port cargo handling services delivered by terminal operators in the Port of Castellon more competitive coupled with diversifying throughput.”
The extension of the deadline for the works currently underway on the new TMG terminal has also been approved, which means completion is postponed to 30 June this year for automation of one of the industrial units and to 31 December for the second unit.
The work envisaged by the terminal consists of extending the Ceramic Quay towards the Outer Transversal Quay by 175 metres, setting up an adjoining area covering 10,235 square metres, and building two automated industrial units fitted with a hopper system and mobile conveyor belts.
Honorary Distinctions for 2024
The Board of Directors also unanimously approved the jury’s decision on the winners of the 9th Faro Awards in each of the nine categories recognising the merits of the work carried out.
The entries awarded in this edition are:
