The price of transporting dangerous goods from the Peninsula to the Balearic Islands will increase this year by more than 50%, since the shipping company Trasmed is forced to charter a new ship to replace the 'Ciudad de Mahón', which will cease sailing on the 26th as it has been bought by another shipping company. Trasmed, GNV and Baleària held a meeting yesterday with the general director of Ports and Airports, Xavier Ramis, to look for alternatives, but the only shipping company that offered a viable one was Trasmed, indicating that it would charter a ship with another shipowner to continue transporting dangerous goods.
Trasmed's commercial director, Miguel Pardo, said yesterday after the meeting: "We have presented alternatives to the Government, but the most logical solution is to charter a ship with another shipowner for a year. The annual freight exceeds three million and this amount and added costs must be reverted to the customers of this type of goods". The manager pointed out that the charter contract will be for one year, a period in which "the prices of dangerous goods products in the Islands will register an increase of more than 50%, which will be passed on to the customers".
Products
Repsol, Carburos Metálicos, Redexis and Air Liquide are the four main customers of dangerous goods, which are then responsible for the distribution of oxygen to hospitals, chlorine to Emaya and all types of energy gases (butane) and industrial gases, such as acetylene, propane, natural gas and pyrotechnics for quarries. The general director Xavier Ramis, indicates in a letter sent to Trasmed that the autonomic Executive "has not stopped working to find a solution to guarantee the supply of dangerous goods to the Balearic Islands".
While a definitive solution is sought, the direct consequence of the shipping company chartering another ship is that the prices of the products catalogued as dangerous will register an increase in their final price, which will directly affect all hospitals, industries and the consumers themselves who use propane or butane. "In the year that we are going to manage this type of transport a definitive solution has to be found, because we have been dealing with this problem for many years and it affects the companies and consumers of Mallorca, Menorca, Eivisa and Formentera", say sources of the shipping company owned by Grimaldi.