The president of the Las Palmas Port Authority, Beatriz Calzada, inaugurated this Tuesday the improvements made by the state entity in the facilities of the Border Control Post (BCP), also known as PIF, in the Port of Arrecife, in Lanzarote, "actions that represent a notable operational and functional improvement of these facilities, in which a total of 246 inspections were carried out last year," according to the president.
The event was also attended by the island director of the General State Administration in Lanzarote, Pedro Viera; the first vice president of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, María Jesús Tovar; the Minister of the Environment, Samuel Martín; the mayor of Arrecife, Jonathan de León; the first deputy mayor and councilor for Festivities of the Arrecife City Council, Echedey Eugenio; and the president of the Chamber of Commerce of Lanzarote, José Valle.
Specifically, the actions consist of the expansion of the unloading and storage area, the recovery of the freezing category for vegetable products and the acquisition of a new electric forklift.
With respect to the expansion of the unloading and storage area, the unloading area has increased from 68 m2 to 170 m2. In addition, three additional chambers have been incorporated for storage in freezing, refrigeration and ambient temperature conditions. Calzada explained that "these actions allow optimizing the unloading operations of the products subject to inspection, since there is a greater operational space in the facilities".
The improvements consist of integrating the facilities for products of animal origin that remained in disuse since the opening of the Border Control Post of the Port of Arrecife in May 2013, since they were never approved by the competent ministries, with that of products of non-animal origin. In this sense, Calzada added: "We have finally obtained authorization for the inspection of frozen vegetable merchandise in these facilities, a historical demand of the Chamber of Commerce of Lanzarote".
On the other hand, thanks to the provision of chambers for the storage of frozen vegetable products, the Border Control Post of the Port of Arrecife will be able to directly manage the import and inspection of these products without the need for prior transit of these through the Port of Las Palmas, which will mean a saving of time and costs in the delivery of containers. For the refrigeration category there is no modification, since it was authorized from the beginning of the activity in 2013 and has never been suspended.
Finally, the Las Palmas Port Authority has acquired a new electric forklift that offers better performance and has a greater load capacity. This new machinery will allow to speed up and make safer the loading and unloading operations of the goods.
With everything, Beatriz Calzada recalled that the management of the facilities of the Border Control Post is carried out through a collaboration agreement between the Port Authority and the Chamber of Commerce of Lanzarote.
