Sertego Servicios Medioambientales, the Urbaser subsidiary led by Fernando Abril Martorell and owned by EQT and Blackstone, has formally begun the regulatory approval process before the Canary Islands authorities to build a waste treatment plant at the Port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. The initiative, which seeks to respond to growing decarbonization requirements and the need for ship-generated waste reception infrastructure in the mid-Atlantic, has entered the public consultation period. This information was independently prepared by the Canarymaritime editorial team under exclusively editorial criteria, with no commercial consideration or connection to the entities mentioned.
The environmental subsidiary’s project will be located in the Fishing Basin (North Basin) of the capital’s port complex. It became known after Transvirgin, which comes from Las Palmas and whose board includes an executive from Cox, formerly Abengoa, applied for a license to dominate the business around the Port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. The Integrated Environmental Authorization (AAI) procedure, launched in February 2026, opens a 30-business-day period for submissions under the supervision of the Directorate-General for Environmental Quality of the Canary Islands Government’s Ministry of Ecological Transition and Energy.
The planned investment comes amid tighter European regulations on marine waste management under the MARPOL Convention and growing operational pressure on the Canary Islands’ ports. The capacity to process hydrocarbons, bilge water and sludge from commercial vessels, passenger ships and fishing fleets has become a critical competitiveness factor for the islands’ ports compared with hubs in North Africa and southern mainland Spain.
For Sertego, obtaining the AAI in Tenerife represents a key step in shoring up its position in the value chain of ancillary services for maritime transport in the Canary Islands. If the environmental procedure is completed without substantive objections from competitors or local groups, the plant will strengthen the Tenerife port’s processing capacity, reduce reliance on transferring waste to external facilities and integrate circular-economy capabilities within the port’s own public domain.
In 2026, Urbaser completed a project known as a hazardous and non-hazardous waste transfer center, located in the Salinetas industrial park in the municipality of Telde, on the island of Gran Canaria. The project received a subsidy of €746,796.55 under the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (PRTR), financed by the European Union through NextGenerationEU funds.
The project was developed through Urbaser’s Industrial Solutions division, operated by its Sertego subsidiary, strengthening the group’s presence in the Canary Islands and its capacity to provide advanced solutions for managing industrial, hazardous and non-hazardous waste. The project was made possible by the grant program supporting the implementation of waste regulations, specifically under line 3.3, intended to fund investments in the construction of new plastic-waste recycling facilities.
The new center improves the management of various waste streams by optimizing their receipt, conditioning and transfer to authorized operators. It also includes a dedicated line for treating plastic waste, aimed at improving its condition for preparation for reuse. With this facility, Urbaser says it is taking another step in its commitment to environmental innovation, the circular economy and the efficient use of resources. The project helps reduce waste sent for final disposal, promotes material recovery and reinforces the company’s role as a strategic partner in advancing more sustainable and efficient waste-management models.
The article EQT and Blackstone Make Their Move in the Next Battle Over MARPOL Services at the Port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife was first published on canarymaritime.com.
