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PortCastelló allocates 66% of its rebates to the ceramic tile industry

28 February 2024

The Chairman of the Port Authority, Rubén Ibáñez, has underscored the Port of Castellon’s “strong partnership” with and its “robust commitment” to the ceramic tile industry, adding that at present “66% of PortCastelló’s rebates for production sectors go to the tile industry.”

The Port of Castellon is the only port in the hinterland which has rebates for ceramic tiles. It gives 40% off the goods charge for the industry’s exports, the maximum allowed by law, which confirms that as a first-rate logistics hub in the province PortCastelló is working for the ceramics industry to enable businesses to operate out of the Port of Castellon.

“Our goal is to unlock the competitiveness of one of the province’s main manufacturing industries,” said Rubén Ibáñez at the PortCastelló’s presentation event at Cevisama. “We want to continue to be the port of departure for Castellon’s ceramic tiles.”

The head of the port authority called for “mutual support” across the entire port community because “that is what will help us to grow.” He also announced a conference with ASCER to make the tile industry aware of the “huge opportunities in the Port of Castellon and the benefits of being able to operate out of here.” He added that “the Port of Castellon is a port working for the ceramic tile industry, it is the industry’s natural port and if we pride ourselves on that ceramic tile DNA, the most logical thing is that the natural operator should be the closest port since at the moment just 10% of ceramic tile exports go through the Port of Castellon.”

Absolute connectivity and infrastructure upgrades

He pointed out that “in addition to the rebates, we are the Mediterranean port with the largest surface area available for new operators, over 450,000 square metres, which means we can deliver even better service.” He further mentioned the new infrastructures which will ensure “absolute connectivity everywhere”.

In these infrastructures which are set to enhance communication he highlighted the road connection between docks, rail access to the port and the intermodal station which will facilitate shipping by rail some of the ceramic tile industry’s cargo that is currently carried by lorry and thus dispatch its goods from the Port of Castellon right across Europe.

Goods throughput

Goods throughput figures show that the ceramic tile industry accounted for 27.8% of the total in 2023 in the Port of Castellon at 4.4 million tonnes, divided into 3.7 million tonnes in raw material imports and 0.7 million in tile exports.

The top ten countries to which tiles are exported is headed by Israel followed by Romania, Greece, Morocco and Jordan.

The main raw material imports come from Turkey, Morocco and Italy for feldspar; Portugal, the United Kingdom and India for clays, and Romania, Portugal and Italy for kaolin.

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