The Hong Kong group Hutchison Ports will begin the expansion works of its terminal on the Prat dock next year. The Port of Barcelona's board of directors has approved the new development phase of the BEST terminal, which will allow it to increase its capacity by 26%.
With an investment of 60 million euros, the terminal will gain seven container blocks, going from 27 to 34. Approximately, each block has an annual storage capacity of 100,000 TEU —a unit equivalent to a 20-foot container—. This means that, currently, Hutchison can store a total of 2.7 million TEU each year, a figure that will grow by 700,000 TEU with the expansion.
The works to increase the container blocks at the BEST terminal will take 31 million euros of the investment made by the Asian group. The other 29 million euros will be allocated to incorporating new machinery, specifically, 14 automated cranes.
The expansion works will be carried out on ten hectares of land that the Port of Barcelona handed over to Hutchison a year ago. They are expected to begin before May 2022. In a first phase, the semi-automatic terminal will incorporate eight new automated cranes to serve the first four blocks that will be operational by the end of 2023. Subsequently, it will incorporate six more cranes of this type.
With this expansion, Hutchison will have six more container blocks pending, reaching a total of 40. As for automated cranes, it could have a maximum of 80. The future growth of this international terminal will depend on its ability to attract more activity to the Port of Barcelona, as well as on the economic situation, key factors to convince the group to continue investing in the Catalan capital.
An area of 80 hectares on the Prat dock
Inaugurated in 2012, the BEST terminal was the first semi-automatic terminal of the Hong Kong-based group. The good results obtained in Barcelona have allowed the model to be replicated in other Hutchison port infrastructures.Currently, the terminal, with Guillermo Belcastro as CEO, occupies 80 hectares of land on the Prat dock, in the southern area of the Port of Barcelona, the part furthest from the city. It is here that container traffic activity will be concentrated in the coming years. According to the group, when all phases of the terminal's expansion are completed, a total surface area of 100 hectares will be reached.
In addition to automated cranes, Hutchison has 13 cranes in Barcelona capable of operating with large vessels, two cranes at the railway terminal, and 34 shuttle carriers.