MADRID, 5 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) -
The Spanish port sector currently has around 190 concessions granted before 1992 that could request extensions in their contracts and thus uncover an approximate investment of more than 1,000 million euros.
These are the estimates made by Ocean Capital Partners (OCP), an international firm based in Madrid specialized in the port sector, which has prepared a report following the latest legislative change in port concession matters, consulted by Europa Press.
Specifically, Law 13/2023, approved last May, allowed contracts signed before 1992 to access the same extensions as any concession, that is, 50 or even 75 years, compared to the previous limitation that established in 2027 the maximum for these cases.
The report assures that this latest modification has corrected a "historical inequality", since it makes it possible to extend the validity of the oldest concessions, after decades of demands by different actors in the port sector to resolve what they considered "a scenario of legal ambiguity that led to situations of inequality."
For this reason, OCP predicts that the possibility of extending these old concessions will be "an important driver to improve the competitiveness of the country's port sector", since the granting of longer contracts will guarantee business stability, as well as legal certainty. for concessionaire companies that already operate in Spanish ports and for new companies that plan to enter the port sector.
Operators will have three options to request extensions: up to 50% of the initial term with a limit of 50 years, up to 50% with a maximum of 75 years or independently and with a limit of 75 years.
Some requirements require that one third of the original term has already been met, that at least 20% of the initial investment be committed in the first and third cases (or 50% in the second case) or that a favorable report be approved. and binding on the part of State Ports.
Ocean Infrastructures Management (OIM), the consulting subsidiary of OCP, has already advised companies such as Enagás, Reganosa, Atlantic Copper, APM Terminals or Gonvarri on requests to extend their port concessions.
