The Port of Valencia has launched a tender process for a new cruise terminal after four years of delays, with the Valenciaport board of directors approving the initiation of the procurement procedure for adaptation works on the Espigón Turia berth at a planned investment of 46.3 million euros.
The decision follows a prolonged dispute involving MSC Cruises, ferry operator Baleària and the Port Authority of Valencia (APV) that paralysed an earlier terminal project. The board, chaired by Mar Chao, gave the green light after receiving a favourable technical report from Puertos del Estado, the Spanish state ports body.
Earlier concession annulled
The new tender replaces a concession awarded in November 2022 to Baleària, in partnership with Global Ports Holding, for a terminal to be built on the former Unión Naval de Valencia shipyard site between the Muelle de Poniente and the Muelle Perfecto Palacio. That project, which carried a combined investment of around 99 million euros from Baleària and the APV, never broke ground. Construction was blocked while the port authority sought to resolve a competing application from MSC for a separate adjacent berth, a conflict that proved impossible to reconcile. The Valenciaport board revoked the Baleària concession in November 2025.
The new 46.3 million euro scheme centres on the adaptation of the Espigón Turia for cruise ship berthing, representing a reconfigured approach to the project following the collapse of the earlier arrangement.
Wider board decisions
At the same meeting, the board approved an expansion of 41,602 square metres of surface area in the northern port extension for Valencia North Terminal, a subsidiary of MSC. The board also extended the concession held by APM Terminals by eight years in connection with a 10.4 million euro shore power investment, allowing vessels to connect to the electricity grid while docked and shut down auxiliary engines. The APV described the move as aligned with its decarbonisation commitments and quayside electrification strategy.
Valenciaport handled 479,873 containers in March, an increase of 11.6 percent on the same month in 2025. In the first quarter of the year, the ports of Valencia, Sagunt and Gandia processed 1,312,842 TEUs, up 1.4 percent. Container traffic with Chinese ports rose 30.56 percent year to date, while volumes with the United States fell 20.65 percent. Cruise passenger numbers reached 60,677 in the first three months of the year, contributing to a total of 207,895 passengers across all services, a rise of 9.3 percent.
