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Staff Reporter

PALMA
THE Chamber of Commerce is planning to ask the President of the Port Authority, Francesc Triay, to make the La Riba dock the place where tourist cruise ships moor in Palma, even though they would block the view of the Cathedral.

They will discuss this at their next meeting with him. The President of the Chamber of Commerce, Joan Gual, said “it is the right time to discuss this” as available space in the port is being reorganised, which also affects freight.

The Chamber of Commerce's proposal seeks “to introduce the most commercial traffic into Palma”, a reference to the cruise ships which come to the port every year; one of the most visited in the west Mediterranean.

The Chamber of Commerce's initiative, which is supported by their own technical study, centres around the extension of the Dique de Oeste, which would be assigned as the only point for unloading cargo, both in containers and on vehicles. This extension is vital to make the proposal a reality, as it has to house the container park which is now situated in the La Riba dock.

The Chamber of Commerce considers the area in front of Sa Llonja, on the Paseo de Sagrera, the ideal place for the mooring of megayachts. Regular passenger traffic would continue to use the Pelaires dock.

In the opinion of the President of the Chamber of Commerce, the new distribution of moorings in the port of Palma entails “some inconveniences which we are willing to study”. Gual did not deny that one of the main inconveniences which the transference of tourist cruise ships to the La Riba dock would bring “is the considerable visual impact which it could have”, as the enormous size of the ships would interfere with the traditional view of Palma cathedral. “We are prepared to talk to everybody, and I think that it is possible to agree on this subject”, said Joan Gual, who added that the benefits which the centre of Palma would obtain from the cruise ship passengers would greatly exceed the possible inconveniences.