The welcome ceremony was attended by the President of the Port of Barcelona, ??Sixte Cambra, representatives of the Government and the municipalities of Barcelona and El Prat de Llobregat, and logistics and industry businessmen. Clemence Cheng, Managing Director of HPH Central Europe Division and Alejandro Kouruklis, General Manager of TERCAT, hosted the visit.
The President of the Port of Barcelona, ??Sixte Cambra, highlighted the important “qualitative leap” that represents the infrastructure for the port. “With this new terminal, the Port will reach a capacity to handle 5.5 million TEU a year. This will strengthen our position as the main logistic hub in the Mediterranean, will allow us to consolidate ourselves as the gateway to southern Europe for products from Asia and will increase the competitiveness of our companies.”
Clemence Cheng said: “Although HPH operates fully automated terminals in other locations, Muelle Prat will be the first semi-automated in the HPH Group. It will be powered by the next generation operating system called nGen, a proprietary system developed by HPH. nGen will not only enhance operational efficiency in the terminal but will also increase safety of its workers, a priority for the group.”
“A €280 million financing agreement for this project was signed earlier today,” he further added, “this reflects the confidence that financiers have in both TERCAT and Barcelona, despite the current turbulent financial markets.”
The facilities at Muelle Prat, with a total area of ??100 hectares and a quay length of 1,500 metres, will be the most advanced semi-automated container terminal in the Mediterranean. The terminal will have an annual handling capacity of 2.65 million TEU. The first phase of Muelle Prat Container Terminal is expected to be operational in 2012.
Photo #2: Group photo – Clemence Cheng (second from left), Managing Director of HPH Central Europe Division; Artur Mas (third from left), President of the Generalitat of Catalonia; Alejandro Kouruklis (first right), General Manager of TERCAT.