The Port of Algeciras commemorates this Wednesday, October 14, the 50th anniversary of the inauguration of its first container terminal, a facility that began operating under the name of Sabas Marín at the Isla Verde dock. Half a century after that opening, the port area has surpassed 120 million TEU handled, following an evolution marked by the arrival of large shipping companies, the expansion of its infrastructures, and the incorporation of new technologies into cargo and unloading operations.
The official inauguration took place on October 14, 1976, when container traffic was beginning to acquire a greater dimension within international maritime transport. The facility was named Sabas Marín in memory of the then General Director of Ports and Maritime Signals of the Ministry of Public Works, who died in a traffic accident while heading to Algeciras to attend the inaugural event.
The terminal initially had an area of 55,000 square meters, a dock of 220 meters, two gantry cranes, and two transtainers. These facilities allowed for the organization of container handling and storage operations in a specific area of the Isla Verde dock, where the American company Sea-Land had begun to develop its activity a year earlier.
The origin of this traffic is situated in April 1975, when Sea-Land Ibérica began its regular container operations on a plot of 42,500 square meters and a dock of 220 meters. During that first year, the Port of Algeciras recorded a movement of 19,495 TEU, a figure that constitutes the starting point of the evolution of this segment of goods in the dock of the Strait.
The next transformation came a decade later, with the entry of Maersk into the port. In February 1986, coinciding with the Day of Andalusia, the Danish company began the activity of its terminal at the Navío dock, under the name of Maersk Spain. The facility had 45,000 square meters of surface area, two gantry cranes, and a dock of 220 meters.
That year concluded with a movement of 384,158 TEU across the entire port, during a stage in which Algeciras began to occupy the top positions in the Spanish port system for container traffic.
The incorporation of Maersk and the activity developed by Sea-Land led to a new phase of growth, accompanied by successive expansions of operational areas and docking lines. During the 1990s, investments in infrastructure allowed for a larger volume of goods and adapted the facilities to the needs of shipping companies.
In 1994, after the expansions made in 1988 and 1992, the Maersk Spain terminal recorded a growth of 24% and exceeded for the first time one million annual TEU. During that same year, the Port of Algeciras occupied the first national position in total port traffic, with over 34 million tons.
The expansion of the Navío dock in 1995 marked another change in the facilities designated for container traffic. The development of Terminal 2000 allowed for greater drafts, the incorporation of new gantry cranes, and the adaptation of the terminal to receive larger vessels, in a context of growth in international maritime services.
The last expansion of Terminal 2000 was inaugurated in June 2000. The facility then reached 67 hectares of surface area and was equipped with 12 gantry cranes and 27 transtainers. That same year, the Port of Algeciras exceeded for the first time two million annual TEU, doubling the records achieved in 1994.
Already in the 21st century, the expansion of Isla Verde Exterior allowed for the incorporation of a second large specialized facility with the commissioning of Total Terminal International Algeciras (TTI Algeciras). The terminal began its commercial operations in May 2010 and was officially inaugurated in July of the same year.
With its commissioning, Algeciras incorporated the first semi-automated container terminal in the Mediterranean and southern Europe. Its operational model introduced automated systems for the movement and storage of containers, complementing the activity of the terminal currently operated by APM Terminals Algeciras.
Currently, both facilities concentrate the operations of container traffic at the port. APM Terminals Algeciras conducts its activities in the area of Juan Carlos I dock, while TTI Algeciras operates in Isla Verde Exterior. The two terminals are part of the network of international maritime services that use the Strait of Gibraltar as a connection point between different trade routes.
The evolution of these infrastructures has been accompanied by the activity of the companies in the port community and of the workers who participate in the stevedoring, transportation, maritime services, and logistics associated with the movement of goods.
In terms of operational performance, the Port of Algeciras occupies the first position in Europe and the twelfth in the world in the 2025 edition of the Container Port Performance Index (CPPI), created by the World Bank and S&P Global Market Intelligence. The indicator analyzes the stay times of container ships in port, taking into account the characteristics of the calls and the operations carried out.
The commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Sabas Marín terminal thus coincides with a trajectory of more than five decades of containerized activity initiated by Sea-Land in 1975, continued with the incorporation of Maersk and subsequently developed through the facilities currently managed by APM Terminals Algeciras and TTI Algeciras.
