¿Casualidades en Canarias, donde hay 7 psiquiatras por cada 100.000 habitantes?
The grant of the public port domain over plot SCDP036 in favor of the Gran Canaria-based company Transvirgin S.L., formalized in the Official State Gazette in August 2026, brings to a close almost five years of paperwork following the initial award of its activity license at the port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. The decision provides 2,077.57 square metres in the Fish Dock for 15 years to install a MARPOL IV wastewater treatment plant (dirty water) and industrial discharges, through an annual fee of €22,529.94 between occupation and activity charges.
“Esa casta”
The dates are not coincidences. The company’s rollout in the western province in the orbit of Fedeport president José Juan Socas would mirror in Tenerife’s capital an operating and regulatory model previously established in the province of Las Palmas, where judicial decisions and resolutions from the Port Authority of Las Palmas have shaped a concentrated market environment inside the port area.
The company’s chair is held by Sergio Socas Álamo, who also serves as director and solidary attorney. The vice-chair goes to Alejandro Fernández Ruiz, who is a council member of Cox, the former Abengoa, also holding positions on the company’s board of directors with powers of attorney. The board secretary is Salvador Cuyás, acting as non-director secretary.
License timeline and operating shift
In Tenerife, Transvirgin has a five-year license since 2021, and just as it comes close to ending is when it receives the green light to operate as a waste management concessionaire in Santa Cruz de Tenerife. That year, in April 2021, in Las Palmas, environmental operators filed a challenge against a ban on transferring MARPOL IV waste outside the port area of the Port of Las Palmas that originates from vessels anchored and/or berthed there for final processing. Those wastes were sent to the south of Gran Canaria for sectors such as hotel green areas or golf business areas.
Judicial precedent in Las Palmas
In October 2025, the High Court of Justice of the Canary Islands (TSJC) upheld the Port Authority of Las Palmas ruling that barred competing companies — such as Gestora de Residuos y Medioambiente S.L.U. — from transporting dirty water from vessels to external treatment plants, specifically the EDAR of El Tablero in San Bartolomé de Tirajana.
The court’s decision was based on reports from the Insular Water Council of Gran Canaria, which concluded that urban wastewater treatment plants lack specific authorization to process MARPOL IV effluents, technically classified as ‘special wastewater’. The opinion established the obligation to process these discharges inside the port or to send them to authorized managers within the same port area. The ruling confirmed that Transvirgin S.L. was the entity with the specific authorization and the physical infrastructure at La Luz port for direct treatment of those effluents, effectively restricting the export of waste outside the port domain.
Licensing calendar and operating model
The granting of land in Santa Cruz de Tenerife creates a particular operating framework. The concession of the plot in the Fish Dock takes place with one year remaining until the expiry of the service license that the Port Authority of Santa Cruz de Tenerife awarded to Transvirgin in November 2021 for a period of six years.
During the five-year period between obtaining the service provision license and awarding the land, the collection of wastewater from vessels in the western province has been carried out through tanker trucks and logistics transport networks. Launching the physical-chemical plant at the Santa Cruz port would aim to replicate the model of centralizing treatment of the residue within the port zone, eliminating the need for inter-island shipments and aligning service in the western province with the technical and institutional standard set in Las Palmas.
The entry
The bizarre far-post goal that was scored for Pedro Suárez from Las Palmas at Ports of Tenerife was first published on canarymaritime.com.
