LAS PALMAS, 18.03.26
Construction crews began excavation work Monday morning along Calle León y Castillo for the €47 million Puerto de la Luz logistics terminal expansion. Regional Infrastructure Councillor María del Carmen Vega confirmed at a press briefing that the project will add 12,000 square metres of covered warehousing by late 2027.
The expansion marks the largest single infrastructure investment in the Canary Islands port system since 2019. Workers will install reinforced concrete pile foundations reaching depths of up to 18 metres to account for the volcanic substrate common to the archipelago. According to figures that could not be independently verified, the project has already created 340 direct construction jobs, with subcontractors reporting full order books through the autumn. The Canarian Building Federation estimates that material procurement alone will inject €11 million into local suppliers over the next eight months. Heavy plant equipment arrived by barge last Thursday, drawing curious onlookers to the waterfront promenade who watched cranes offload excavators and concrete batching units onto temporary staging areas.
When we spoke with Enrique Dávila Marrero, a site foreman with 22 years of experience on maritime civil works, he described the soil conditions as challenging but manageable. "We hit hard basalt at seven metres," he said, wiping dust from his safety visor. "It slows drilling, but it gives us excellent load-bearing capacity once the piles cure." The timeline remains unclear for the second phase, which involves erecting a steel-framed transit shed adjacent to the existing roll-on/roll-off berth. Officials from the Spanish Port Authority indicated that tender documents would be published before summer, though no precise date was offered. The sweet smell of churros drifting from a nearby kiosk mixed oddly with diesel fumes as lorries rumbled past the perimeter fencing.
Our correspondents in Las Palmas observed surveyors marking out formwork positions early this week, a sign that concrete pours could commence within days. The National Institute of Construction Statistics recorded a 6.2 percent year-on-year rise in non-residential building permits across Gran Canaria, suggesting momentum beyond this single project. Environmental monitors have been stationed at three points around the site to measure particulate emissions, a requirement imposed by the regional environmental directorate following public consultation last autumn. Shipping companies have welcomed the expansion, noting that current berth congestion often forces vessels to anchor offshore for days. Whether the promised completion date holds will depend on weather windows and the availability of specialised shoring equipment, factors that have delayed similar projects elsewhere in Spain.