Barcelona Free Port
Encyclopedia
Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...
's largest port, vying with Tarragona
Tarragona
Tarragona is a city located in the south of Catalonia on the north-east of Spain, by the Mediterranean. It is the capital of the Spanish province of the same name and the capital of the Catalan comarca Tarragonès. In the medieval and modern times it was the capital of the Vegueria of Tarragona...
, and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
's ninth largest container
Containerization
Containerization is a system of freight transport based on a range of steel intermodal containers...
port, with a trade volume of 2.57 million TEU's in 2008. It is also one of the most important ports in the Mediterranean. The port is managed by the Port Authority of Barcelona. Its 7.86 km² (3 sq mi) are divided into three zones: Port Vell
Port Vell
Port Vell is a waterfront harbour in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, and part of the Port of Barcelona. It was built as part of an urban renewal program prior to the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. Before this, it was a run-down area of empty warehouses, railroad yards, and factories...
(the Old Port), the commercial/industrial port and the logistics port (Barcelona Free Port). The port is undergoing an enlargement that will double its size by diverting the mouth of the Llobregat
Llobregat
The Llobregat is the second longest river in Catalonia, Spain. It originates in Castellar de n'Hug at an altitude of 1,259 meters in the Serra del Cadí, and ends in the Mediterranean Sea, in the municipality of El Prat de Llobregat, near Barcelona...
river 2 km (1¼ mi) to the south, and slightly pushing back the Llobregat Delta Nature Reserve.
This is not the only port in Barcelona, as there are also two additional yacht harbors / marinas: Port Olímpic
Port Olímpic
The Port Olímpic is a marina located in Barcelona, Catalonia. Located east of the Port of Barcelona, it hosted the sailing events for the 1992 Summer Olympics.thumbThe venue was opened in 1991.-References:* Volume 2. pp. 255-8.* , , , &...
and Port Fòrum Sant Adrià to the north.
Overview
The Port VellPort Vell
Port Vell is a waterfront harbour in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, and part of the Port of Barcelona. It was built as part of an urban renewal program prior to the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. Before this, it was a run-down area of empty warehouses, railroad yards, and factories...
area comprises two marinas or yacht harbors, a fishing port, a maritime station for ferries travelling to the Balearic Islands
Balearic Islands
The Balearic Islands are an archipelago of Spain in the western Mediterranean Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula.The four largest islands are: Majorca, Minorca, Ibiza and Formentera. The archipelago forms an autonomous community and a province of Spain with Palma as the capital...
and other destinations in the Mediterranean and other stations or landing areas for cruise ships, and it abuts the industrial port.
In the central area, it also houses "Maremagnum" (a shopping mall and nightlife complex), a multiplex cinema, the IMAX
IMAX
IMAX is a motion picture film format and a set of proprietary cinema projection standards created by the Canadian company IMAX Corporation. IMAX has the capacity to record and display images of far greater size and resolution than conventional film systems...
Port Vell (large-format cinema complex) and Europe's largest aquarium
Aquarium
An aquarium is a vivarium consisting of at least one transparent side in which water-dwelling plants or animals are kept. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, marine mammals, turtles, and aquatic plants...
, containing 8,000 fish and 11 sharks in 22 basins filled with 6 million litres of sea water. Because it is located in a designated tourist zone, the Maremagnum is the only commercial mall in the city that can open on Sundays and public holidays. Next to the Maremagnum area are the "Golondrines", small ships that take tourists for a visit around the port area and beyond.
The Barcelona industrial port is to the south, and comprises the Free Port or Zona Franca de Barcelona, a tariff-free industrial park that has developed within the Port of Barcelona, across the flat land of the Llobregat
Llobregat
The Llobregat is the second longest river in Catalonia, Spain. It originates in Castellar de n'Hug at an altitude of 1,259 meters in the Serra del Cadí, and ends in the Mediterranean Sea, in the municipality of El Prat de Llobregat, near Barcelona...
delta between the city of Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
and that of El Prat de Llobregat
El Prat de Llobregat
El Prat de Llobregat , commonly known as El Prat, is a municipality in the comarca of Baix Llobregat inCatalonia, Spain. It is situated in the delta of the Llobregat river on the right bank, bordering the coast of the Mediterranean Sea between Barcelona and Viladecans. More than a quarter of the...
and the Barcelona International Airport
Barcelona International Airport
Barcelona El Prat Airport , simply known as Barcelona Airport, is located southwest of the center of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, lying in the municipalities of El Prat de Llobregat, Viladecans and Sant Boi.The airport is the second largest in Spain behind Madrid Barajas Airport and the...
to the south.
A good place to view both the industrial and pleasure port is from Montjuïc
Montjuïc
Montjuïc is a hill located in Barcelona, Catalonia.-Etymology:Montjuïc is translated as 'Jew Hill' in medieval Catalan, or is perhaps related to the Latin phrase Mons Jovicus . The name is found in several locations in the Catalan Countries: the Catalan cities of Girona and Barcelona both have a...
, and more specifically, from Montjuïc Castle, as well as from the aerial cable car
Cable car
A cable car is any of a variety of transportation systems relying on cables to pull vehicles along or lower them at a steady rate, or a vehicle on these systems.-Aerial lift:Aerial lifts where the vehicle is suspended in the air from a cable:...
connecting Barceloneta with the Ferry Station and Montjuïc.
Information
In common with much of Western EuropeWestern Europe
Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...
, the older traditional industries in Catalonia
Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...
, such as textiles, declined in the face of foreign competition. The surviving companies closed their factories in the city or along the rivers, leaving industrial wastelands or abandoned workers' colonies. In many cases within Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, these industries moved to the Zona Franca
Zona Franca (Barcelona)
Zona Franca is a logistics and industrial area located in the Sants-Montjuïc district of Barcelona, Catalonia . It is near the C-31 road and la Marina de Sants , el Prat de Llobregat and l'Hospitalet de Llobregat...
.
The free trade area was constructed in two phases. The first phase covered an area of 70 hectare
Hectare
The hectare is a metric unit of area defined as 10,000 square metres , and primarily used in the measurement of land. In 1795, when the metric system was introduced, the are was defined as being 100 square metres and the hectare was thus 100 ares or 1/100 km2...
s; the second phase, covering an area of 140 hectares, started construction in 1995.
The free trade
Free trade
Under a free trade policy, prices emerge from supply and demand, and are the sole determinant of resource allocation. 'Free' trade differs from other forms of trade policy where the allocation of goods and services among trading countries are determined by price strategies that may differ from...
zone is located within the port area, not far away from downtown Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
, and is easy to access. It is 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) away from the Barcelona International Airport
Barcelona International Airport
Barcelona El Prat Airport , simply known as Barcelona Airport, is located southwest of the center of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, lying in the municipalities of El Prat de Llobregat, Viladecans and Sant Boi.The airport is the second largest in Spain behind Madrid Barajas Airport and the...
, and connected via highway and railway.
Business investors here rent offices or bonded warehouse
Bonded warehouse
A Bonded warehouse is a building or other secured area in which dutiable goods may be stored, manipulated, or undergo manufacturing operations without payment of duty. It may be managed by the state or by private enterprise. In the latter case a customs bond must be posted with the government...
s. They can also elect to purchase land to erect their own buildings.
The free trade zone offers a series of services. It is divided into a comprehensive service area, truck / lorry area, reception area and sports facilities area. It has a customs
Customs
Customs is an authority or agency in a country responsible for collecting and safeguarding customs duties and for controlling the flow of goods including animals, transports, personal effects and hazardous items in and out of a country...
duties service, bonded warehousing service, advanced telecommunication and computer system, security system, combined multiple transport system and so on.