The Port of Seville Development Plan, with a target date of 2020, aims for, and is already achieving, a significant leap forward in the infrastructure and services offered. It combines the necessary ambition, the enduring engine of progress, with a realistic approach; it should be considered sustainable due to its clear environmental benefits, and well-managed because of the timelines that are being met with precision.
The new lock will accommodate vessels up to 216 meters in length and 33,5 meters in beam, dimensions that guarantee the Port of Seville will be able to receive the transatlantic traffic vessels that modern economies of scale require. These large vessels can be built at the Seville Shipyards, improving the company's development prospects and job security, as well as positively impacting many other companies located in the Port, which will see increased opportunities for growth and job creation.
Ships of this size not only enable sustainable development in the economic and financial sense of the term, but the movement of these ships also significantly helps to protect the environment, since their holds are capable of transporting quantities of goods that would otherwise have to use more polluting means of transport.
The project submitted so that the relevant Ministry can issue its environmental report demonstrates how the dredging and expansion works of the lock will have a very limited effect on the salinity of the waters of the Guadalquivir estuary, as it will not cause any displacement of the so-called saline plug.
A new environmental impact assessment of the riverbanks confirms the sensitive areas: Punta del Verde, La Isleta, La Horcada, Punta Arenilla, and Caño la Figurola will be protected with riprap of minimal visual impact. The protected natural areas of the Lower Guadalquivir and Doñana Natural Parks will also remain unaffected. Finally, the locations of the landfills that will receive the sludge and sediment from the dredging have been determined, ensuring minimal impact on flora, fauna, and the landscape, and allowing for their restoration at the end of their useful life.
The port will showcase a new configuration of the inner access channel to the commercial docks; an additional 2.000 linear meters of berthing space thanks to the construction of new commercial docks; and the development of over 300 hectares for port, industrial, and logistics uses. These and other port infrastructure modernization actions will allow our docks to handle 12 million tons of cargo annually, maintaining current proportions of agricultural and industrial bulk cargo and increasing the share of general cargo, containerized cargo, and cargo types with greater strategic value. But there's more. The final vision for the Port of Seville in 2020 includes a second lock, the extension of the Cuarto dock, and the addition of another 200 hectares in the Copero area, which would allow for the handling of up to 20 million tons per year.
Looking ahead to the future of the Port of Seville, we find a significant development in the logistics sector, which has already begun with the start of construction on the new Logistics Activities Zone (ZAL) in the Batán area. This area, entirely dedicated to these specific uses, will encompass 26 new hectares, 120.000 square meters of warehouse space, and 1.600 new jobs. These figures summarize a project that will not be completed until as far as 2020; in fact, the ZAL will be fully operational by 2007.
The construction of the SE-40, the new ring road of Seville, with its corresponding direct access to the port bypasses, is expected to be completed by 2020.
For now, the work to make the 2020 vision a reality has already resulted in a New Port, a more active agent in the environmental improvement of its surroundings and an even more powerful engine for the development of Seville and its metropolitan area.
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