The competitiveness of the Canarian port system is measured not only in tons but also in its capacity to reform a maximum tariffs system that the CNMC qualifies as “opaque” and “outdated.” The report highlights that the lack of public performance indicators prevents real productivity comparisons among the ports of the archipelago and their competitors. While Spain excels in container traffic speed—ranking just behind Norway, Japan, and Denmark—in conventional cargo and bulk areas, which are key for inter-island supply, there is substantial room for improvement.
One of the most critical points highlighted for the Las Palmas-Tenerife corridor is the management of public concessions. The regulator denounces the existence of exploitation periods exceeding 30 years without solid economic justification, which blocks the entry of new operators. The CNMC proposes the creation of an independent supervisor and the update of the specifications documents, aiming for ports to stop being a logistical bottleneck and transform into engines of innovation.
However, in ports such as the Canary Islands, this progress is hindered by inefficiencies at the Border Inspection Points (PIF), which act as bureaucratic “bottlenecks.” The report emphasizes that waiting costs for administrative reasons are a deterrent for shipping companies, as significant as the port charges themselves.
The impact of infrastructure and PIF on lead time
Technical efficiency, according to the evidence cited by the CNMC, is intrinsically linked to management quality: an improvement in port infrastructure from the 25th to the 75th percentile could reduce maritime transport costs by 4.1%. The analysis warns of the need to promote investment in automation, a process currently facing obstacles within the Spanish regulatory framework. The introduction of automated processes would not only reduce the average time in port—where Spain already records competitive values in the container ship segment—but also align Las Palmas and Tenerife with the standards of the ‘Top 10’ fastest ports in the world, currently dominated by locations in China and the Arabian Peninsula.
