The naval sector of La Luz glimpses good years due to the environmental requirements for ships

This high volume of vessels that are going to be withdrawn from the market in the coming years will positively affect the port of Las Palmas from two points of view. On the one hand, as there are fewer ships sailing freight rates will remain high. In the medium term, and due to the uncertainty about which is the most recommended fuel for ships and which systems to implement, the construction of new ships to replace those that are withdrawn is not foreseen, with which the tension in prices for the chartering of ships will continue.

In this context the shipowners will choose to carry out the repairs of their ships through nearby ports and here the port of Las Palmas is very well positioned, in order to get the work done in the shortest possible time, according to close sources. With high freight rates, the objective is to have the ship sailing for as long as possible and stranded in a shipyard for the least amount of time, these sources point out.

This new context will also benefit La Luz because Many of the ship recycling jobs, to implement energy saving systems and adaptation to new fuels, will be carried out at the Las Palmas shipyards. Thus, in the medium and long term a high volume of work is expected in the naval sector of the port of La Luz.

ANDhe ship repair sector in Las Palmas managed to endure the year of the covid and despite the drop in business, it managed to close positively. Since then, in the following years, 2021 and 2022, the business figures were very positive thanks to the services demanded by all types of ships, such as merchant ships, refrigerated vessels, fishing vessels, dredgers, cruise ships… This has continued throughout the years. 2023 when, as a consequence of the Ukrainian War and the high demand for crude oil, the reactivation of many of the oil platforms that were ‘hibernating’ in the port of Las Palmas after the crisis in the sector in 2015 began.

New stage in the ‘offshore’ of the port of La Luz

The ‘offshore’ business continues to thrive in the port of Las Palmas and start a new stage thanks to the reactivation of platforms worldwide.

In recent months, the ‘skyline’ formed by the platforms of the port of Las Palmas, with up to 15 berths at different docks -some of them docked- has disappeared. There are barely four drilling vessels left in the Reina Sofía dock and a fifth platform in the Astican shipyard. The rest have been subjected to reactivation work after getting contracts in different areas close to the Canary Islands where there are oil wells and some have even been scrapped. The five that remain are in a ‘warm stack’, so work is already underway on them for their departure from the port of Las Palmas shortly after signing drilling contracts. The sector is back on track and with it the business.

From now on, what is expected is a constant transfer of platforms that are in the area and that will come to undergo periodic reviews, like a kind of ‘ITV‘, and this will generate economic activity and employment for the port and the city. There are already closed contracts to carry out work on five platforms this year. “This ‘offshore’ business He has iron health in the Canary Islands due to the enclave of the islands and the wells that exist in Morocco, Senegal and Mauritania”, indicates the director of Business Development of Hamilton y Cía, Francisco González.