Vigo: developments in 2011

5th Spanish peninsular position both in the number of cruises (118 in 2011) and passengers, with more than 250,000 tourists over the last year, the Port of  Vigo  has strongly supported the development and growth of this traffic.

For this, in first place, the Port of Vigo, has implemented adaptation projects and urbanization of TRASATLANTIC QUAY (main cruises quay) with an investment of 15 million euros:

1. Improving the berthing line of the Trasatlantic Quay. It consisted on the construction of three berthing structures known as "Duque de Alba", spaced among them, thus achieving enlarge the current 550 meters of berthing line up to 750 meters, so as to allow the simultaneous berthing of two large cruise ships of 300 meters length each, and that allows at the same time the arrangement of berths with any combination of vessels of a lower length.The arrangement of this type of structures let significantly enlarge the mooring line of the Transatlantic Quay, thus increasing its berthing capacity for large cruise ships, reducing significantly, compared to a traditional extension of the dock, both the infrastructure costs and environmental impact of it.
2. Improving the Cruise Terminal. The Cruise Terminal (8.744 sq m),  was improved and renamed as “Alberto Durán”, welcoming cruise passengers in the most comfortable, practical, safe and modern way.There is a great lobby for arrivals and the ’cruise lounge’ on the first floor gives tourists the chance to find out about the city at their leisure, not only by means of leaflets, but also through slide shows and presentations. There is also free wi-fi and other services. Once passengers come back to the vessels after visiting the city, they can rest there for a little time before embarkation. Access control and protection system  have been updated and implemented more widely and so lines and queues for embarkation and other procedures are considerably shorter.
3. Urbanization and improvement of the Central Area. There have been undertaken works of urbanization and improvement of the central area of the port linking with the city, from the largest shed of premises for shi-owners of the fishing port to the “Muelle de Comercio”, both inclusive, aiming at promoting the port of Vigo as homeport and call port for cruises.

In second place the Port of Vigo, with the continuous growth of Cruise ships , has been reoriented the aim of the COMERCIO QUAY to the cruise traffic. Nowadays  its berthing line has been extended to 253m,  and it has a draught of 8,5m. Consequently, the Port of Vigo offers the possibility of the simultaneous berthing of 4 large ships in the centre of the city and becomes one of the fewest port that can provide this service.

At the same time, there have been works adapting the ancient warehouses existing on the Comercio quay to give service to the cruise passengers, through the creation of a passenger terminal with operative and security services, this new terminal “EL TINGLADO DEL PUERTO” is since 2011 a new key point for the cruise ships that visit Vigo every year. The passenger terminal is adjacent to the pier and it houses different shops and a café.

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