Port Authority of Las Palmas awarded preferred bidder status to Global Ports Canary Islands

Global Ports Holding Plc, the world’s largest independent cruise port operator, has announced that, following a public tender process, the Port Authority of Las Palmas has awarded preferred bidder status to Global Ports Canary Islands S.L. (“GPCI”), an 80:20 joint venture between GPH and Sepcan S.L. (“Sepcan”), to operate cruise port concessions for Las Palmas Cruise Ports, according to Global Ports Holding’s release.

The concessions cover the port of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, the port of Arrecife (Lanzarote), and Puerto del Rosario (Fuerteventura), which have tenures of 40 years, 20 years, and 20 years respectively. Following successful execution of the concession agreements, GPH, as part of GPCI, will use its global expertise and operating model to manage the cruise port operations in Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, and Fuerteventura.

Global Ports Holding, GPCI, and the Port Authority of Las Palmas will now work towards agreeing on the terms of the concession agreements. The concessions are expected to commence before the end of the current financial year, although there can be no certainty as to the timing or that the final conditions will be satisfied. Las Palmas Ports (including the 3 islands), with C. 1.5 passengers annually, is ranked 3rd busiest ports in Spain after Barcelona and the Balearic Islands and in the top 20 of Europe.

Las Palmas Ports are a key destination for Southern Atlantic itineraries with great airlift connectivity. During the pandemic in 2020 unlike other European ports that were closed to cruise traffic, the 3 ports in Las Palmas welcomed over 500,000 passengers with the “bubble cruises” around the islands. There is a huge demand for winter cruising in the region due to the mild climate during this period of the year compared with other regions in Europe and the cultural and outdoor activities.

GPH owns 80% of GPCI and Sepcan S.L. owns 20%. Sepcan is a Canary island family-owned company that has been providing services to the port of Las Palmas since 1936 and since 1998 has been focused on mooring/unmooring, luggage handling, ship’s provisioning, and passenger services. They also specialize in environmental services and maritime pollution prevention.