Integration in the transport system. Sustainable mobility

Current road and railway access and measures envisaged to drive port-railway intermodality (I_22)

The main road connections to the Port of Huelva are the A-49 motorway (Seville-Huelva-Portugal), the N-441 (from the north), H-31 (from the east) and H-30 (Huelva’s eastern roundabout), which runs south as the N-442 to the Outer Port. Other important route for the Port of Huelva are the N-435 (from Badajoz and Zafra to Huelva) connecting the port to Extremadura, which meets the A-49 at San Juan del Puerto, the N-431 (Huelva-Portugal) and the regional roads A-494 (from San Juan del Puerto to Matalascañas through Mazagón), A-5000 (from Huelva to San Juan del Puerto), A-5025 (from A-494 to N-442 through La Rábida) and A-497 and A-492 which connect the port area, across the bridges over the River Odiel, with Punta Umbría and other urban centres along Huelva’s western coast.

The most important measures planned for the Port of Huelva, regarding the external connections of the road network, are those that ensure a good level of service of the A-49 dual-carriageway, and the N-435 to Extremadura. Specifically, work is to continue to expand the capacity of the A-49 on the stretches with heaviest traffic and turn the N-435 into a dual-carriage way (the future A-83), beginning with the Trigueros and Beas relief roads.

As regards the road system inside the Service Area, it is able to provide an excellent level of service.  Its main thoroughfare consists of the Avenida de Hispanoamérica, Avenida Francisco Montenegro (Punta del Sebo road) and the Puente del Tinto, the bridge linking the inner Wharves and Outer Port. The branch line to the general network connects the Port of Huelva to the Mainline Railway Network managed by ADIF. The Huelva Freight railway logistic terminal is nearby, from which goods able to be self-supplied are shipped, received and classified.

With respect to the inner connections of the road network, the measures of special interest among those planned are the widening of the N-442, towards Street A of the Nuevo Puerto Industrial Estate and the new bridge over the River Tinto, connecting the A-494 at the Palos de la Frontera relief road to the H-30 (Huelva Eastern Roundabout).

The N-442 main road links Huelva and Mazagón and traffic is heavy, with a large number of heavy vehicles from the industrial estate where the CEPSA refinery and Enagás regassification plant are located, without forgetting the Port of Huelva Outer Wharf, where the South Wharf is located, used for general freight and container traffic and for the current regular ferry line. It could also undergo major expansion and offer future opportunities for the Port of Huelva. This traffic is particularly intense in summer, as the road connects Huelva to the beaches of Mazagón and the surrounding areas.

Therefore, the whole road needs to be widened, which has been planned for over a decade, along with a new layout for the access roads to the N-442, by means of service roads, removing some junctions or replacing them with link roads (at different level) and increasing capacity.  Furthermore, a second bridge is to be built over the River Tinto to reduce traffic flow and ensure exit routes in case of emergencies.

Public investment aimed at better rail and road connections to the centre of Spain, through Seville, are strategic for the Port of Huelva, as the V Centenario (A-49) dual-carriageway is currently congested.

In 2021, the Port of Huelva put the project to urbanise the ZAL out to tender, in order to, once the contract is awarded, carry out the work needed for the complete urban development of the land at the same time that progress is made in the marketing plan to set up logistic companies.

With respect to the rail connections, Huelva Port Authority has had an agreement in place with ADIF since 2011. This agreement regulates the rail infrastructure administrator functions of the port and establishes the way in which it connects to the Mainline Rail Network. This is all pursuant to Railway Sector Act 38/2015 of 29 September repealing Act 39/2003.

Between 2017 and 2025, the Port of Huelva has projects within the Service Area of the Port and in key locations outside that Service Area, as part of its Investment Plan to Improve Rail Accessibility. The first phase of the Majarabique Railway Terminal has been completed with a total budget close to €3.5 million.

The Port of Huelva Authority and ADIF have an agreement in place to regulate the financial contributions of the APH from the Port Land Accessibility Fund regarding its contribution to improve the Huelva-Seville line. Specifically, €11 million are earmarked to construct two 750-m sidings on the Seville-Huelva line. This will allow freight trains of 750 m in length to be used and thus optimise the railway corridor.

Therefore, the Port of Huelva is well connected by land, and particularly by rail, with its hinterland. However, the focus still needs to be on driving projects to improve the capacity of those infrastructure for the new rail transport standards.

In the meantime, the main goal of the Port of Huelva Intermodal Platform project, co-financed by the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) Programme, is to improve the transport logistic chains in south-west Europe, thanks to developing the intermodality and connectivity in the Port of Huelva, thus converting it into a Global Gateway.

In 2021, Huelva Port Authority implemented the following actions as part of the project:

• Completion of the work to reorganise and improve the access to the South Wharf.
• Implementation of the work to widen the last section of the access road to the South Wharf.
• Completion of the work for the Phase II perimeter enclosure, where fibre optic was installed and systems integrated in the Smart Port.
• Completion of the Smart Control systems for the Port of Huelva railway network.
• Different communication tasks were carried out, focused on producing press releases on the different progress of the works, and with special emphasis on the Port of Huelva joining the European Atlantic Corridor from 2021 onwards. Special mention should be made of the Rail Technical Meeting attended the main railway companies of mainland Spain and Portugal, along with those companies of the port community with freight able to be transported by rail.

The project's two main infrastructures are the 750-m dual-track railway terminal and the Sold Bulk Unloading Trench, measuring 40 m in length and which means bulk freight arriving by rail can be directly unloaded without needing to be transported by lorry. The trench consists of a road access route for 14-m long lorries, along with rail access designed in such a way to create a circuit where 750-m trains can manoeuvre, stop and unload the cargo without affecting the port’s main track.

In 2021, work continued on the I-RAIL (Interoperability of the rail system with TAF TSI in TEN-T Corridors), which includes the participation of the main stakeholders of the freight transport sector of Spain, Portugal and Italy, with the support of the European Union Agency for Railways and the Spanish Rail Safety Agency. The project seeks to improve interoperability in the exchange of information in the European rail freight services by means of digitalisation and the use of the TAF and TSI technical standards (defined in the Interoperability Directive 797/EC/2016) and to make freight transport by rail more competitive, both in terms of cost and time. During 2021, the Huelva Port Authority completed an assessment of the requirement to proceed to develop and implement a technological solution in order to position the Port of Huelva at the cutting edge of rail connectivity. It published a call to tender for the contracting of the service to provide the "Development, Implementation and Upkeep of a Rail-Port Traffic and Capacity Manager at Huelva Port Authority".

During 2021, the Port of Huelva continued to take part ECO-GATE ("European Corridors for Natural Gas Transport Efficiency") project. It seeks to study improving the efficiency of the natural gas and conventional vehicle market, and its connection with the European corridors, by means of developing new technologies and innovative solutions for the logistic supply services, clean fuels, refilling infrastructures, vehicle and component manufacturers, and operational processes. The ECO-GATE project is made up of a consortium of 24 entities from four countries: Spain, France, Germany and Portugal. Nedgia is the project coordinator. The consortium members include natural gas operators, technology and service providers, end users and market & promotion experts. In 2021, the Port of Huelva set out its requirements for the contracting of a future natural gas station to be installed at the port. Different retailers were contacted to see if they were interested in investing in a natural gas station in Huelva, with clearly establishing demand in the short term being the greatest difficulty.

Work also began at the end of 2018 on the LNGHVE2 Logistics Solutions project. Its aim is to give Spain the opportunity to offer a comprehensive solution for the new requirements of the maritime and rail sectors. The activities to be implemented include adapting the LNG regasification plant at the Port of Huelva, so that it can offer bunkering and small-scale services; the construction of an LNG bunkering barge and the introduction of LNG as fuel in a maritime-rail green corridor between the Port of Huelva and the Majarabique dry port in Seville, by means of retrofitting a diesel locomotive to BIOLNG and the construction of a gas fuelling station at the Majarabique rail terminal.

Huelva Port Authority is the driving force behind the setting up of an integral logistic green corridor between the two intermodal platforms managed by the Huelva Port Authority, which are the South Wharf at the Port of Huelva (port of the TEN-T basic network) and the Majarabique Intermodal Rail Platform in the province of Seville (strategic point within the Mediterranean Corridor of the TEN-T Nework), using BIOLNG as fuel for rail traction. This action will make the Huelva-Seville Corridor, which became part of the Atlantic Corridor in 2021, more competitive both in terms of costs and of environmental savings, and, consequently, increase the modal transfer from road to rail. The APH will work closely with ENAGAS, RENFE and ADIF in this action. In 2021, work was carried out on the basic engineering of the retrofitting of the diesel engine. Meetings were held with the main manufacturers, as the preliminary step to convert the locomotive's engine to BIOLNG and fitting the tanks required in the locomotive; along with the integration and accreditation of the locomotive and to training the staff required.

Furthermore, in 2020, Huelva Port Authority was awarded another CEF project, specifically the EALING (European flagship Action for coLd ironING in ports) project. Its aim is to speed up the development of infrastructures so that the vessels moored in the Port can be supplied with electricity during their stopover, with the ensuing energy-efficiency and environmental benefits.

The Global EALING Project brings together 17 European ports to address the main challenges set by the European Union in areas such as climate change. The project's main objectives include complying with Directive 2014/94/EU, which requires inland electricity supply to be installed as a priority in the ports of the Trans-European Transport Network, including the Port of Huelva. Those infrastructures must be available for those regular freight lines by 31 December 2030 at the latest and are a cornerstone of the European strategy to turn ports into emission-free areas by 2030.

In the specific case of the Port of Huelva, the aim of the project is to conduct all the necessary engineering work and studies that will allow the future construction of the port infrastructures known as OPS (Onshore Power Supply) or Cold Ironing. Thus, once the current project is completed, the work can be put out to tender.

In turn, the project seeks to achieve a legal and technical harmonisation Europewide to allow the standardisation of the processes to supply electricity to vessels. In turn, it will cut the energy costs of the vessels that operate in the Port of Huelva and thus make them more competitive.

In 2021, work was carried out on analysing the infrastructures needed to install those systems and the potential demand. Meetings were therefore held with the shipping companies operating at the Port of Huelva.

Finally, in 2021 the European Commission used the Connecting Europe Facility - CEF to approve the awarding of a Port of Huelva project for the Improvement of the Railway Interoperability and Connections with the hinterland of the Port of Huelva. The project seeks to contribute to the transport decarbonisation targets and comply with those set by the European Union in that regard. The project budget is over €961,000, with the maximum cofunding for this project set at 50%. Furthermore, the project implementation period will be two and a half years and it is therefore expected to be completed by the end of 2023.

The stages of the project include different study projects, with studies being taken to mean all the preliminary steps (engineering, cost-benefit analysis, etc.) to carry out the future diversification works at the Port of Huelva.

In this regard, the work will involve the adapting the rail terminal on the South Wharf to allow the rolling highways to be operated. This activity will build on the analysis of the positioning and defining of a strategy for the Port of Huelva relating to the rolling highways. It will also take into account the necessary adaptation of the rail network to the interoperability characteristics of the Corridors of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) (train length up to 740 m).

Creating a siding inside the port as support for the terminal and to allow trains of up to 740 metres in length to be parked, and to eliminate any possible bottlenecks on the port's internal network is also envisaged. Furthermore, the project includes designing the rail safety and communication facilities, preparing the land located in the multipurpose area of the South Wharf as a support zone for the terminal's rail operations, a project to retrofit and adapt the rail internal network so that it complies with the European interoperability standards defined for the basic network.

The project also includes a (road and rail) traffic reorganisation study around the Ingeniero Juan Gonzalo Wharf in order to prioritise rail transport in that area of the outer port and eliminating some of the existing operational difficulties.

Boosting the traffic handled by means roll-on/roll-off (I_23)

The first roll-on/roll-off cargo milestone was in 2011 with the introduction of a Naviera Armas Ro-Pax ferry with a regular weekly route between Huelva and the Canary Islands. This was possible thanks to the shipping line installing a floating Ro-Ro ramp.

In 2016, this type of traffic was boosted with the opening of the new South Wharf inspection facilities to streamline the veterinary and phytosanitary inspections of plant or animal products entering the European Union through that infrastructure.

In 2018, the Huelva Port Authority purchased the Ro-Ro ramp which allowed a new line to be established with the Canary Islands run by Balearia & FredOldsen that has a Ro-Pax ferry calling in twice a week. This together with the existing service, now run by Naviera FRS, means a total of 3 per week.

Evolution of the road and rail transport and Ro-Ro operations (I_24)

The following table indicates the evolution over the last three years at the Port of Huelva of the percentage of freight entering and leaving the Port by rail, in relation to the traffic handled by road and rail, along with the evolution of the percentage of maritime freight entering and leaving the port by means of roll-on/roll-off operations, in relation to the total import-export maritime general freight. The evolution of the transport by pipeline is also shown, given its importance for the Port of Huelva.

As regards rail traffic, the statistical summary of this type of transport in 2021 was: