The Junta of Andalusia has approved the Special Planning Plan for the service area of the Bahía de Algeciras port, an instrument that regulates an area of over 365,000 square meters located in the municipality of Los Barrios, in the province of Cádiz. With this step, the Department of Development, Territory Articulation, and Housing considers the processing of a document conceived as a key tool for the expansion and planning of the port, as well as for the implementation of new industrial projects in energy transition and new fuels, concluded.
The area now ordered ranks among the most relevant in the environment of the dock. Companies such as Acerinox and the EDP thermal power plant operate there, two industrial references whose activity is linked to the port area. Additionally, the area's interest is heightened for new generation energy developments, as access to the sea constitutes one of the main incentives for the implementation of green hydrogen projects. The Special Plan itself links the future activity of the area with new fuels, an orientation that connects urban planning with the transformation currently occurring in the port and logistics sector.
The context in which this approval is inserted helps to understand its scope. The Port of Algeciras, of general state interest, maintains constant development in facilities, ship movements, goods, and passengers. This dynamism is sustained by its strategic location and the exceptional natural characteristics of the environment in terms of shelter against storms and draft close to the coast, conditions that have turned the dock into a reference node. The Bahía de Algeciras Logistics Area, promoted by the Junta of Andalusia and declared of Autonomous Interest, also contributes to this development. The combination of all these factors has resulted in the service area of the port experiencing significant transformations that now require an orderly and coherent urban planning fit.
The approved Special Plan, promoted by the Port Authority of the Bahía de Algeciras, aims to establish the detailed planning of the service area of the port within the municipality of Los Barrios. The purpose is for this space to have a regulation "suitable and consistent with urban legislation", as well as the functional planning of the current Port Space Utilization Plan of the Bahía de Algeciras. In this way, the planning of the area is aligned with the general regulatory framework governing the uses and activities of the port.
The new planning is distributed across three areas of activity. The first is the commercial functional area for solid bulk and general cargo, with 97,442 square meters of surface area, intended for the operation of this type of traffic. The second is the commercial functional area for solid, liquid bulk and general cargo, the largest, with 254,420 square meters. This second area incorporates a protective strip in the lands closest to the mouth of the Guadarranque River, a provision that addresses the environmental sensitivity of that point on the coastline. The third is a functional area of protection reserve with recreational tolerance of 12,925 square meters, whose purpose is to ensure the operation of adjacent port facilities and the movement of vessels in the water area.
The first two functional areas encompass the spaces where the handling of loading and unloading of products takes place, along with the necessary storage and transportation facilities for their transfer to destination points. They therefore concentrate the bulk of the commercial activity in the area. The third, protective in nature, operates as a reserve with recreational use compatible with port operations, allowing the economic function of the enclave to be compatible with the preservation of its environment and the safety of maneuvers in the dock.
With this planning, the service port area of Los Barrios is regulated as a general port system, with a regulatory structure aimed at the efficient exploitation of space, compatibility with the industrial environment, and coordination with general terrestrial transport systems. The two commercial areas concentrate the uses linked to the handling and storage of goods, while the reserve space introduces a specific regulation for the coastal environment near Palmones and Guadarranque.
