Currently home to Europe’s largest cruise port, the popular Spanish city of Barcelona is restricting port access in an effort to mitigate the impacts of overtourism, an issue that continues to overwhelm many sought-after European destinations.
Following an agreement with local authorities to relocate cruise ships further from the city proper, officials have closed Barcelona’s northern port terminal to all cruise traffic. Passenger cruise vessels will now be required to dock at the Moll d’Adossat pier, situated furthest from the storied city center.
Previously, ships would also put in at the World Trade Center pier, which is located just a stone's throw from La Rambla, Barcelona's iconic promenade. Whereas cruise passengers used to be able to stroll up La Rambla within minutes of disembarking, they’re now faced with a minimum 30-minute hike before they can exit the port area.
Data released by the port authorities indicates that this shift in docking locations will affect around 340 cruise ships per year, CNN reported. The new policy officially goes into effect on October 22, but the final ship to dock at the northern terminal has already come and gone.
The change in regulations follows a 2018 between Barcelona’s city council and its port authorities to, “move cruise activity away from urban areas… making them more sustainable,” the port authorities revealed in a statement. Port of Barcelona president Lluís Salvadó said that the new arrangement promises to, “eliminate the negative externalities that [cruises] can produce for residents.”
Salvadó released a statement detailing how the city will reclaim an area of almost 150,000 square feet, including more than 2,000 feet of quay, to be transformed into “new public spaces”. By next autumn, the wharf will open in its new incarnation for everyone to enjoy.
The move isn’t an unprecedented one for the city. The port previously shut down its Maremagnum cruise terminal, per an agreement reached with the city council. Its pier is linked directly to Barcelona’s Old Town, the Ciutat Vella, which is now the located of a sailing club and marina, a mall, multiple bars and restaurants, the Barcelona Aquarium.
Nor are the changes at an end. By 2026, all cruise operations at the Port of Barcelona will be conducted out of the Moll d’Adossat docks. For that transition to take place, the port will need to close its south terminal—also part of the World Trade Center pier. Plans are in place to install shore power infrastructure at the Adossat wharf so that berthed ships can plug in at the pier, rather than their running diesel engines.
More than 2.3 million passengers passed through Barcelona’s cruise port in 2022, up almost 350 percent over 2021 numbers. When ferry passengers are factored in, that number becomes almost four million people who traversed the city’s port in a single year. Those figures seem even more astonishing when compared with Barcelona’s population count of 1.6 million residents.
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