Consorcio de Transportes Bahía de Cádiz has finished the refurbishment works of Cádiz Metropolitan Shipping Terminal for maritime passengers service. The works that
amounted to € 2,763,000 were realised by Ute Felipe Castellano S.a.u y Ferrovial Agroman from August 2007 to December 2008 and consisted of:
- A second pier erection, and the alteration of the old one, allowing the mooring of two ships at the same
time.
- The enlargement and some new arrangement of terminal onshore, that is totally adapted to disabled
passengers.
Mooring is made against steel columns, instead of pontoon dock, which have been hammered into the bottom of the harbour.
Embarking proceeds through new metal sheltered gangways that connect the dock with the ship deck. The gangway height adjusts itself depending on the tide level (like the airport finger system), reducing the maximum slope during the low tide.
In this way, embarking process is more comfortable and secure, it takes less time, and passengers are completely covered from meteorological disturbances.
The shipping terminal is composed of wide
areas situated under a sloping roof, where
a big central hall is situated. At both sides
of the hall, there are two air-conditioned embarking lounges, and five space units
for ticket windows, offices, warehouse,
toilets and a bike lending service enclosure.
The access and exit ways to the ships can
be made directly from the central hall,
through the embarking lounge (except bikes and motorbikes), or going around
the terminal station inside. Each route is
suitably indicated, and it can be modified
depending on the number of passengers.
Each embarking lounge is available for
150 passengers and has a curved shape
with tempered glass enclosure giving them
a great luminosity. They also have seats,
air-conditioning and arrivals/departures
information displays.
Those works not only improve the travel
experience of the passenger with additional
comfort, easy access and reduced time
for embarking/disembarking but they
also improve efficiency of the service
in facilitating manoeuvres of docking/un
docking and reducing the slope at low
tide and use of renewable energy for
domestic hot water.
