The Port Authority of Valencia has announced a major investment plan to expand the port facilities. Three harbours come under the umbrella of the Spanish port; Valencia itself, Sagunto a few miles to the north and Gandia a few miles to the south.
The planned investment has been designed to improve the facilities at all three of these ports but with Valencia itself having the major part of the new investment.
The new investment will come in stages with €56 million invested this year and then a further €177 million invested between 2018 and 2020. For this year the investment will be focussed on Valencia with the money allocated to the generation and refurbishment of berths in the existing port. Gandia will benefit to the tune of €13 million over the three years and Sagunto will have €44 million invested.
The initial investment at the port of Valencia will be primarily for dredging works which will allow the port to accept ships with a draft of up to 18 metres at the existing berths. The volume of material that will be dredged is estimated at 1.5 million cubic metres.
In the Port of Sagunto the planned development will focus of detail improvements. The port is a major site for the import of LNG with dedicated facilities for this. Extensive dredging is planned in the port and its approaches to allow the port is able to handle the largest LNG ships and facilities are now being developed to allow for the export of LNG cargoes in smaller ships so that Sagunto can become a major LNG trans-shipment port serving the Western Mediterranean.
Finally at Gandia, the main part of the development work will be the creation of a large marina on the northern side of the port which is planned to meet demand for the next 15 years. The construction of this marina which will double the size of the port and this new construction will serve to protect the commercial southern part of the port where a new commercial wharf designed to handle general cargoes is being developed.
