The failure of Coalición Canaria’s (CC) electoral projections has triggered a quiet realignment of forces on the boards and within the business organizations of the archipelago’s ports. Behind-the-scenes efforts led by Las Palmas’ business groups to put together their own parliamentary group in Madrid, with six or seven nationalist lawmakers, have been consigned to oblivion, giving way to a pragmatic rapprochement with Alberto Núñez Feijóo’s Partido Popular (PP).
At the docks of Las Palmas, where the business organizations represented on the board of directors have maintained a policy of continuity by approving tariff increases for regulated services such as vessel mooring, major operators are now adjusting their strategic alliances in anticipation of an imminent change of government in Madrid.
The business groups at Puerto de La Luz recognize that the priority after Nov. 29 will be to prevent a new period of legislative deadlock or parliamentary weakness from slowing the economic and investment agenda. For shipping agents, stevedores and terminal operators, the change of political cycle in Madrid must translate into a predictable framework that protects investment in the port of Gran Canaria in the face of growing competition from North African ports.
The retreat from support for the CC formula shows the extent to which the port business community has decided to anticipate a shift in national politics. The search for a channel of communication with a potential PP government is viewed at the docks of Las Palmas as the only way to guarantee a favorable environment in terms of taxation, concessions and logistical sovereignty in the Mid-Atlantic.
A port pragmatism forced by the ballot box
The loss of momentum behind the Canarian nationalist route has left the maritime sector’s business groups without political backing for their efforts to directly influence state decisions on public works and the merchant marine. The expectation of shaping governance in Congress through a strong island bloc has given way to direct alignment with the alternative led by the PP.
From the business groups in Las Palmas and Tenerife, the official reaction to the early elections has focused on calling for stability and legal certainty, urging the parties to hold a rigorous debate on the structural reforms needed by the productive sector. However, in Gran Canaria’s port sector, the prevailing message among corporate leaders is to safeguard competitiveness and ensure direct communication with Feijóo’s economic team ahead of decisions with logistical and regulatory implications for the network of Atlantic ports.
The article Canary Islands port business groups pivot: alignment with the PP takes shape ahead of the Nov. 29 elections was first published on canarymaritime.com.
