The project, which is going at a good pace, includes an area of industrial and logistical activities, a terminal of bulk solids and other containers

The city of Cartagena, with more than three thousand years of history, is located in which in antiquity was a natural Bay, with a narrow channel of entry, and surrounded by mountains, which gave it a shelter and protection. In this Bay lies the port of Cartagena, used by the majority of the inhabitants of the city. Greeks, Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans, Arabs and Christians, fishing villages that appreciated to find a safe haven in a very steep coast, made use of this port, at a time when lack of industrial development and the engineering needed to create an artificial shelter.

In the 19th century, with the construction of the pier of Alfonso XII, the first commercial Wharf of the port of Cartagena, the movement of goods through the port begins to have unique relevance in the economy and industry of the region.

Half of the 20th century, in the nearby Valley of Escombreras, installs an oil refinery. As a result of this fact, and to serve the refinery, in the Bay of Escombreras, more open than the Cartagena, but also sheltered by mountains, built dams and docks that the refinery can receive its raw material: crude oil, and to export its production: gasoline, butane, propane, diesel, etc. In little more than fifty years, its proximity to the docks of the dock of dumps and the synergy created by successive industries that have been installed in the area, have given rise to one of the most important industrial concentrations of Spain. The Valley of Escombreras is today a strategic location for the Spanish State in a sector as vital as it is the production of energy.

The figures of traffic of goods in the port of Cartagena in recent years have shown a clear upward trajectory, which portends that traffic growth will continue in the future. For this reason, the port should anticipate the needs of its customers and users, and design and plan an expansion of its facilities.

But it is not enough to get new docks so you can carry out loading and unloading. The ports are points where the goods change of mode of transport: maritime transport / trucking. A modern port, agile and good operability must have facilities to enable this intermodality and the physical proximity of the actors involved in it: railway, facilities for truck terminals, warehouses, space for companies transitarias, stevedoring, forwarding, official bodies, etc. In addition, the industrial character of the port of Cartagena is that many industries want to settle as close as possible to the port area, and this proximity in some cases absolutely necessary for the viability of the company.

For these reasons, an extension to provide new quays and berths, the port was necessary and at the same time surface for logistics and industrial area. At the end of the twentieth century the port of Cartagena is launching an expansion project that currently carried out in the dock of dumps.

When designing the enlargement, the port is located with mountains that have given to have through the centuries to their two docks, and who have made this one of the safest in the world portthey are an insurmountable limitation to gain ground inland. The only solution is to grow towards the sea.

Expansion project of the dock of Escombreras, due to its large size, be broken down into two phases. The first stage includes the construction of the outer dykes, which will stop the swell and will define the new port area by the side of the Mediterranean. The second phase consists of the construction of new docks and the filling between them and the ditches of the first phase.

Escombreras is today one of the most important industrial concentrations in the country

When designing the enlargement, the port is located with mountains that have given to have through the centuries to their two docks, and who have made this one of the safest in the world portthey are an insurmountable limitation to gain ground inland. The only solution is to grow towards the sea.

Expansion project of the dock of Escombreras, due to its large size, be broken down into two phases. The first stage includes the construction of the outer dykes, which will stop the swell and will define the new port area by the side of the Mediterranean. The second phase consists of the construction of new docks and the filling between them and the ditches of the first phase.

The works of the first phase was awarded in 2000 to the joint-venture formed by the company Dragados and Drace, Necso, winners of the open public competition. Work began on December 21 of that same year. Dams that make up this first stage are three: the South Dock, from the tip of the Aguilones to the vicinity of the island of Escombreras, which will serve as a closure to the South to the future site, with a length of 600 meters; the perimeter dike that borders the island of Escombreras, with a length of 580 meters; and the Southwest dike, which begins in the vicinity of the island of Escombreras and flows in northwestern direction, with a total length of 1,040 meters.

The extension of the dock of Escombreras is an extremely complex project due to the great depths that are very close to the coast: the mountains that surround the dock continue descending underwater, so that in the area of enlargement works with a depth of between 50 and 52 meters. These depths are an exciting challenge to modern engineering, and the challenge is solved building vertical dikes through drawers of concrete, of a size never before used. These concrete boxes are manufactured in a floating dock installed on the same site. This dique-cajonero has manufactured boxes for this work with variable dimensions, depending on its location. The larger blocks have been measured 67 m. in length, 24 m of manga and 29 m of prop.

The drawers of concrete are funded on a "bench" that, in the form of landfill, is located on the bottom of the sea, bringing the bound enough so that the receiver stands out from the surface, and can finish the work building a containing and paving the top of dams with concrete. The first phase, which has been completed in the first months of 2004, involves an investment of EUR 60 million, of which 40 million are financed through own resources by the port authority of Cartagena, and 20 million remaining correspond to European Community Feder funds.

The second phase of the project, whose procedures are already very advanced, will be win the sea an approximate area of 60 hectares, by providing the port's two new piers, of approximately 600 lineal meters each, in which two new terminals will be built: a terminal for bulk solids of 90,000 square meters, and a pier that could be used for terminal of containers, with 240,000 square meters of surface. A zone industrial and warehousing of 280,000 square metres, in addition to roads and urbanisation of the area also includes the project. These new facilities will also enable to improve access to the rest of the wharf and docks of dumps.

With this new infrastructure, the port of Cartagena may face years with facilities and sufficient surface to meet the demands of its customers and users.

As industrial chemical sector or companies related to it that they are present in tailings and make use of the port, we can mention to Repsol YPF, Iberdrola, Enagás, General Electric Plastics, Izar Construcciones Navales, Compañía Logística de Hidrocarburos, Terliq, AES Corporation, Ecocarburantes SpanishFertiberia or group SGS Spain.

The Valley is a strategic location in a field as vital as the production of energy

In its first approach, expansion project was the inclusion of the island of Escombreras within the Esplanade, losing in this way the insularity. The project was subject to public information, and this period was informed of their status as protected area, as well as the existence of certain endemic plant species of the island, and as the Habitat of various seabirds. Therefore the project was modified by the inclusion of a dam perimeter that forms a canal with the northeast side of the island of 35 meters in width on average, thus saving insularity, while this change meant a significant increase in the budget for implementation.