12. Dry Bulks
Dry bulk throughput in the Bay of Algeciras – mainly coal and other minerals – is close to reaching 1.4 million tonnes per year. The Acerinox and Endesa Generación terminals are the most important facilities for this type of traffic.
ACERINOX is recognised as one of the most competitive manufactures of stainless steel companies in the world. The steel plant, which occupies a 125-hectare site, has an annual production capacity of 1.1 million tonnes; hot-rolling can produce up to 900,000 tonnes and cold-rolling up to 670,000 tonnes. The factory in the Bay area even has its own port facility, where Acerinox imports raw materials and ships finished products worldwide from a terminal that has a 250-metre quayline with draughts of 9.5 metres and is serviced by two gantry cranes.
Endesa’s port terminal in Los Barrios houses the largest dry bulk ports in the Bay of Algeciras and one of the largest in Spain. The terminal’s excellent facilities – within the industrial area of the Bay and close to the petrochemical complex in Guadarranque – give the terminal a privileged spot within our port.
The terminal has a quayline of 600 metres and first-class facilities to unload and handle dry bulks. The unloading quay – at 360 metres long and with 23 metres draught – can handle ships of up to 270,000 tonnes deadweight; the loading quay can accommodate ships of up to 25,000 tonnes deadweight.
The industrial complex has a range of facilities dedicated to various industrial activities: Endesa Generación also runs a combined-cycle power station in the borough of San Roque. On the power generation front, Repsol (Los Barrios Power Station and Bahía de Algeciras Combined Cycle Station) and Gas Natural Fenosa.
Europe’s largest gas supplier, Abelló Linde, S.A. runs a plant in the Bay of Algeciras, as does Air Liquide, in the same sector. From the chemical sector, Indorama Ventures PCL factory in Guadarranque and Cepsa Quimica Puente Mayorga are both deserving of a mention here. Cepsa Bioenergy also has a facility that produces green biofuels.