The expansion of the port of Playa Blanca is entering its final stretch. An ambitious project that we started in 2017 and whose main objective has always been to offer greater security in operations, enhance the reception of passenger traffic and create a new dock to guarantee safety and improve capacity.
With this new infrastructure, we not only improve the connectivity of the neighboring islands of Lanzarote and Fuerteventura, but the entire archipelago is united through the boats that pass through the port every day.
The project is a co-financed action within the framework of the Canary Islands ERDF Operational Program (2014-2020), one of the financial instruments of the European cohesion policy that contributes to reducing the differences between fragmented territories far from the European continent, as is the case of the Canary Islands. These funds seek to promote sustainable transport and eliminate obstacles in infrastructures that are so fundamental for the people of the Canary Islands, such as ports, and are a clear example of how European aid reaches the end user, offering them a safer, more comfortable and modern infrastructure through which hundreds of people and vehicles pass every day.
Let us remember that the port of Playa Blanca is one of the main ones in the autonomous network of Canary Ports, a milestone that has forced us to increase the surface area for berths, facilitating the maneuvering of boarding and disembarkation, both for automobiles and travelers.
Thanks to the new port area, where the shipping companies that connect Lanzarote with Fuerteventura daily have been operating for weeks, we will be able to segregate traffic and maneuvering areas for passenger and sports ships, increase the level of services to ships and users, organize the land service area and increase the attractiveness for visitors.
This new port space consists of a new breakwater, as well as two other berths for ferries, which offer more capacity, more connection and, above all, more security in port operations.
With this expansion, we free up space in the old port, leaving fishermen and recreational boats more room for their operations and even new moorings for boats that wish to be in the port.
All these works that we have been developing and that are now a reality help to boost the island's economy and further unite two sister islands that share, in addition to a single electrical system, a labor, commercial and tourist market.
Without a doubt, we are very close to having a state-of-the-art port that will be a benchmark for territorial cohesion and modernity for the Canary Islands.
Manuel Ortega, Managing Director of Canary Ports