Investment this year in the five state ports in the Balearics - Palma, Alcudia, Mahon, Ibiza and La Savina - has been set at 42.3 million euros. The Balearic Ports Authority (APB) is dedicating 16.3 million to Palma, thirteen million of which is for expanding and improving infrastructure for cruise ships. Specific projects are for terminal number six, the Poniente piers, water supply and fire prevention.
The APB says that the investment is in order to increase Palma's competitiveness and to capture the largest share of the Mediterranean market in terms of stopovers and being a home port. The authority anticipates there being a 9% increase in stopovers this year, taking the number from 517 to 560. This will mean roughly 70,000 more passengers (a total of 1,634,534).
The increasing attractiveness of Palma as a base means that the number of ships using the port in this way is due to rise by 16%.
The investment in the five ports follows the approval of the APB's board in December. This will be aimed at addressing deficiencies and modernising and expanding current infrastructure. In Ibiza the spend will be 5.1 million. For Mahon it will be 4.8 million. In Alcudia there are 200,000 euros for new projects, while La Savina will have 400,000 euros spent on it. The remainder of the investment, says the authority, will go on general needs for port areas.
Since 2011, around 87 million euros have been spent on Palma's port, closely followed by the 84 million for Ibiza. The investment in the other three ports has been substantially lower: in Mahon, for instance, it has been 16 million. The investment is self-financing from the revenues that the ports generate. This differs to the other ports in the Balearics which are under the regional government's control and rely on the government's budget.