The City Council and the Port of Barcelona today signed a new protocol to reorganize and make cruise activity more sustainable. The agreement involves reducing the number of cruise terminals at the Port of Barcelona and developing a series of projects to improve passenger mobility and make it more sustainable, taking a step forward in the responsible management of cruises and in improving the coexistence between port activity and the city.
The central point of the new protocol signed today by the two administrations is the reduction of the number of cruise terminals from seven to five, resulting from the demolition of the current terminals A, B, and C, and the construction of a new terminal on the site of the latter. The resulting terminal will be public, meaning open to the general public and with the capacity to serve 7,000 passengers at a time.
This reorganization and gradual reduction of the current terminals will be accompanied by the complete renovation of a 610-meter section of quay, corresponding to the current Terminals A and B. This project will represent an investment of €50 million by the Port of Barcelona. As a result, the Port's cruise facilities will be among the most modern and sustainable internationally, offering the essential quality of service to accommodate homeport operations (the beginning and end of a cruise), which are the most valuable for the city and provide the best air connectivity.
With this transformation, the Adossat dock will be configured with five cruise terminals: four private (the current terminals D, E, G, and H) and one public (the new terminal C), all adapted to the most demanding quality and sustainability standards. The new terminal will prioritize homeport cruise ships and smaller vessels.
The agreement signed today with the City Council accelerates the Port's timeline for renovating the oldest terminals—currently A, B, and C—which were nearing the end of their useful life, and constructing new facilities better suited to the current requirements of the cruise industry. Furthermore, the dock's rehabilitation facilitates the installation of onshore power supply (OPS) systems to connect ships to the electrical grid, providing them with green energy to shut down their engines and eliminate emissions from their operations.
The protocol also includes an ambitious sustainable mobility plan, with three key actions:
- The Porta d'Europa bridge will be widened to improve mobility at the Adossat dock and ensure its safe connection, incorporating dedicated bike and pedestrian paths. This project represents an investment of 90 million euros.
- The construction of an urban corridor along the Montjuïc waterfront, designed for public transport, taxis, ride-hailing services, bicycles, and pedestrians, will connect Plaça dels Drassanes with Marina del Prat Vermell and the Zona Franca industrial park. This strategic infrastructure will facilitate connections for residents on both sides of Montjuïc and channel southbound passenger flows with minimal impact on the surrounding urban area. The planned investment is approximately €10 million.
- The development of an assessment study of the mobility generated by cruise ships, which will allow the formulation of a sustainable land mobility management plan for cruise passengers, including, for example, a regular shuttle service with the main public transport hubs, a permanent monitoring system with data shared with the City Council, or the installation of information screens in all terminals in order to inform in real time about the flow to the main tourist points of the city in order to improve the distribution of people and decongest the most saturated areas, in line with the policies deployed in the High Influx Spaces (EGA).
The development of all these projects, which will involve the renovation and improvement of facilities dedicated to cruise traffic, optimizing spaces and adapting them to the latest environmental requirements, will represent a public-private investment of €185 million in the Port of Barcelona. This is in addition to the €265 million in public-private investment already made for the projects carried out in compliance with the previous agreement signed between the City Council and the Port in 2018 to reorganize cruise activity. The Port of Barcelona has almost fully complied with this agreement, relocating operations from the Drassanes and Barcelona Nord docks to Adossat and opening them within the city.
José Alberto Carbonell, president of the Port of Barcelona, explained that “the signed protocol completes the modernization plan for the Adossat Wharf, initiated a few years ago with the aim of modernizing port infrastructure and strengthening the Port of Barcelona’s competitiveness. This new phase includes the demolition of three old terminals and the construction of a new, state-of-the-art terminal; the rehabilitation of the wharf and the incorporation of OPS electrification systems; and improvements to access and mobility with the widening of the Porta d’Europa bridge. These actions represent a public-private investment of €185 million, which, added to the investments made under the 2018 agreement, confirm the Port of Barcelona’s commitment to the sustainable development of cruise activity.”.
“For the first time in history, a limit has been placed on the growth of cruise ships in the city,” emphasized the Mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni, who also thanked the Port Authority for “its understanding and empathy” in acknowledging that the growth of this activity cannot be infinite and had to be reduced. The mayor also noted that from 2018 to 2024, the number of cruise passengers increased by 20%, given that the last agreement signed between the Port Authority and the City Council did not establish capacity limits. “The current management of tourism involves setting limits and managing it better,” Collboni stated.
The planned schedule for carrying out the actions outlined in the protocol signed today is as follows:
Year 2026:
- Closure of the Barcelona South dock terminal at the end of the year.
- Demolition of the current Terminal C (Adossat dock) by the end of the year.
Year 2027:
- Start of construction of a new public terminal at the Adossat dock to serve ships simultaneously with a maximum total capacity of 7,000 passengers.
- Study evaluating the mobility generated by cruise ships at the Adossat dock.
- Inauguration of Terminal G (Adossat dock), currently under construction and part of the deployment of the 2018 agreements.
- Start of the works to widen the Porta d'Europa bridge.
Year 2028:
- Commissioning of the new Terminal C.
- Demolition of terminals A and B in the second half of the year.
- Start of the comprehensive rehabilitation of the Adossat dock section where terminals A and B are currently located and installation of the OPS system for the electrical connection of ships.
Year 2029:
- Entry into service of the urban corridor that will connect the Plaza de las Drassanes with Marina del Prat Vermell and the Free Trade Zone.
Year 2030:
- Terminal C fully operational with a maximum capacity of 7,000 passengers.
The protocol signed today acknowledges that maritime tourism is an important economic sector for the city, but specifies that it requires planning and management measures, as is already happening in other tourism areas such as accommodation, mobility, public space planning, and taxation. This agreement reinforces the Port Authority's and the City Council's joint commitment to a more organized, efficient, and environmentally responsible maritime tourism model for Barcelona.
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