Neither even reputable ship agents would have dared. And less so the Scot Lewis Gellie Hamilton, who lends his name to the company. February 2020 was underway, before Covid-19, when Francisco González, commercial director of Hamilton (Transcoma), said at a port conference in Cartagena (Murcia) that the port of Las Palmas was declining because it lacked sufficient human resources. He said the conference was organized by the consignee itself, in relation to the business of naval repairs. This same executive is the one chosen by the president of the Port of Las Palmas, Beatriz Calzada, to seek a commercial exit for the Port Foundation of Las Palmas. Among those selected for the closure is a veterinarian who represents Boluda’s interests, the president of Fedeport and former president of the bankrupt Cecapyme, Juan José Socas, and the aforementioned González.
At the business forum, González said: “This conference is the first step to make the industry known in Cartagena. In the Canary Islands, we have already been operating daily for 20 years, but here you have something we don’t have there, which is knowledge (sic), because there is an enterprise structure, firms are very involved with the petrochemical sector, and there is enormous professional training, and that helps.”
After that, in 2020—one year later—Transcoma reached an agreement with the Cartagena Port Authority to capture business at the expense of the Canary Islands, using Saipem, Stena Drilling, and Repsol as commercial hooks. González had already said that “the business in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria moves around 400 million euros, with direct employability of 7,000 jobs and another 16,000 indirect ones. Attractive figures for a strategic hub such as Cartagena. In a matter of an excellent growth opportunity for the region and for the port community at an international level, which will make it possible to improve the local social and business fabric.” In fact, in 2019 Hamilton took a vessel to Cartagena, the Stena Icemax. Since 2024, there have been no records of activity in this business segment for Hamilton in Cartagena—the year in which, in Las Palmas, there were supplier mobilizations due to non-payment by the Transcoma subsidiary.
The report states: “News written by Gara Vega. Edited and verified by José L. Jiménez. Cross-checked information without institutional filters. This analysis has not been financed by official advertising or conditioned by lobbying interests.” The entry notes that the story was first published on canarymaritime.com.
The entry The businessman who humiliated the Port of Las Palmas, now in liquidation at the Port Foundation was published first on canarymaritime.com.
