Port accessThe Port Authority of Bilbao and Interbiak Bizkaiko Hegoaldeko Akzesibilitatea, a public corporation attached to the Department of Economic and Territorial Development of the Territorial Council of Biscay, have signed an agreement to boost the programme for lorry pre-entry notification in the Port area and the use of the Southern Metropolitan Bypass toll road for heavy vehicles whose origin or destination is the Port of Bilbao.
Asier Atutxa, the Chairman of Port Authority of Bilbao, affirms that “this agreement comes from an idea proposed to us by the Port of Bilbao Association of Autonomous Hauliers (ATAP, Spanish acronym) and we have been developing it together with the Territorial Council. Now that we have developed our telematics services through our e-puertobilbao electronics platform in order to achieve greater efficiency in vessels and goods passage, and the automatic lorry-access system has been introduced firstly at the container terminal, it is the time to take one more step to speed up heavy vehicle access and transit more safely, more economically and in a more sustainable, thus improving the Port’s land transport intermodality and competitiveness”.
Imanol Pradales, deputy for Economic and Territorial Development, stressed that likewise, this agreement will help “to alleviate the problems brought about not only by the queues at accesses to the Port area but also the high level of intensive traffic due to heavy-tonnage vehicles on the normal territorial toll-free roads entering and exiting the Port’s service zone”.
In the agreement, the Port Authority has committed itself to contribute 100,000 euros a year as part of its Land Transport Competitiveness Programme to provide an incentive for those heavy vehicles using the pre-entry notification system on the e-puertobilbao telematics platform to enter or exit the Port of Bilbao via the Southern Metropolitan Bypass.
In turn, Interbiak will develop the computer application that will enable the control and validation of the obtained data, and provide the Port Authority with the resulting file so that the incentive can be paid.
Heavy vehicles wishing to benefit from this incentive must comply with the following general requirements:
- Register as applicants on the Port Authority of Bilbao website www.bilbaoport.eus (soon available)
- Use the pre-entry notification service on the Port’s platform (e-puertobilbao.com).
- Enter or exit the Port of Bilbao via the Southern Metropolitan Bypass, and pay Interbiak the total current official toll fee.
- Pay the toll using the device or the electronic toll-paying system authorised by Interbiak Bizkaiko Hegoaldeko Akzesibilitate, which at the same time, will technically enable recognition of the lorry’s licence plate through the computers connected to the e-puertobilbao platform.
The payment of the yearly amount among the beneficiaries fulfilling the above requirements will be made pro rata per trip by computing the total number of entries and exits made each year. Settlement and application of the corresponding incentives by Port Authority of Bilbao will be on an annual basis and carried out within 31 days following the end of each year.
The present Agreement will be in force for four years, with possibilities of it being extended. In accordance with the specified periods, those who wish to benefit from the Agreement can register on the Port Authority website and the trips will be computed as from 31 June. The incentives will be paid on 31 January 2019.
In 2017, there was a total of 143,149 entry and exit registrations from 1,613 different lorries using the Port of Bilbao pre-entry notification system. This figure supposes approximately 67% of the lorries using the Port and is closely related to container traffic. As the rest of the terminals start to introduce automatic access –as Noatum Container Terminal Bilbao did in November last year- pre- entry notification will extend, and this, in turn, will produce greater advantages for all Port customers.
