Without any last-minute surprises, the Consell d’Administració del Port de Barcelona has awarded the Royal Caribbean shipping company the construction and operation of terminal G of the Moll Adossat of the port of Barcelona, ??the last one available for cruises in the Catalan capital. The shipping company entered the competition as Catalonia Cruise Terminal G, S.L, a joint venture of Royal Caribbean Group and Cruise Terminals International, with a project to be operational in spring 2027.
Royal Caribbean’s proposal was finally the only one that was submitted to the competition, as La Vanguardia reported, although the award process has not been a bed of roses and has taken longer than initially planned. The reason was the judicial appeal that three shipping companies – Norwegian Cruise Line, Viking Ocean Cruises and Virgin Cruises – jointly presented on the grounds that the port had made “a tailor-made suit” for Royal Caribbean, leaving any other company out of the bidding process. company. An appeal that forced the port to withdraw and review the tender to restart the process a few weeks later.
Despite this single proposal, the Port Administrative Council has described the Royal Caribbean project as “excellent” for its important commitment to sustainability, both energy and environmental, with the installation of OPS systems, also known as plugs, that will allow cruise ships to connect to the electrical grid once docked at the dock and achieve 0 emissions within the port. A connection system that, on the other hand, the shipping company MSC will test in the first instance in the terminal that it is already building in Moll Adossat itself, thus becoming the first cruise company to connect to electricity.
The design of the future terminal presented by Royal is designed to accommodate giants such as the recently inaugurated Icon of the Seas, the largest cruise ship in the world. It also seeks to maximize energy efficiency with photovoltaic panels and other types of systems, while its architecture will seek to minimize the impact on the environment. The American shipping company has already expressed its satisfaction with the result of the tender, which translates into its commitment to the Catalan capital. “Barcelona is a very important city for Royal Caribbean Group, and one of the most popular destinations for travelers from around the world. Our intention is to build a unique terminal, promoting the development of sustainable infrastructure and creating a space of interest for the community,” they say in a statement. “We look forward to working closely with the Port, local stakeholders and our partners at Cruise Terminals International (CTI) to bring to life a cruise terminal that will benefit both visitors and citizens of Barcelona,” they conclude.