The project was presented on 13 October at the terminal. Attendees included Mario Massarotti, CEO of Grimaldi Lines Spain; Miguel Pardo, Director of Institutional Relations for Grimaldi Group in Spain; and José Alberto Carbonell, President of the Port of Barcelona.

The new car silo will enter service in November 2026. It stands on a footprint of approximately 7,500 m² and comprises a ground floor plus four upper levels, providing a total floor area of around 37,500 m². The vertical layout expands temporary storage capacity and makes it easier to organise vehicles during reception, dwell time and subsequent loading or onward distribution.

“It connects to the Costa quay rail terminal, speeding up the reception of cars arriving by train and reducing the distance new vehicles have to travel,” said Pardo.

EUR 50 million terminal investment

Since the concession was awarded in 2012, Grimaldi has invested approximately EUR 45 million in the terminal alone, including the new facilities. A further EUR 5 million is being invested to modernise access routes, automate entry and exit gates, and upgrade paving and infrastructure. Massarotti highlighted the new automatic gate system, developed with the group’s in-house IT department.

Massarotti said Barcelona had the opportunity to establish itself as one of the main gateways and distribution hubs for vehicles entering the European market. “To seize this opportunity, we need maritime connections, operational efficiency and, above all, storage capacity. The new silo responds precisely to this need. It allows us to make far better use of limited port space, increase our capacity and prepare the terminal for new car traffic,” he said.

Solar self-consumption

The photovoltaic installation has an installed capacity of 1,238 kWp and an estimated annual output of 1,695 MWh, roughly equivalent to the terminal’s annual energy consumption. A 1.3 MWh battery has already been installed and is awaiting its management software. The system is designed for self-consumption without export to the grid. Once fully operational, surplus energy will be stored for later use.

One-fifth of Barcelona’s port calls

In 2025, Grimaldi Terminal Barcelona handled 2,400 vessel calls, 305,000 trucks and trailers, 185,000 new cars and more than 1.1 million passengers, embarking and disembarking. According to Pardo, this represented more than 20% of all calls at the Port of Barcelona that year.

The terminal operates under a unified concession covering the Sant Bertran, Ponent and Costa quays, with a total area of more than 175,000 m². It combines sea, rail and road transport, handling passengers, RoRo cargo and automotive logistics. Its services link mainland Spain with the Balearic Islands, Italy and North Africa, and are integrated into Grimaldi’s European logistics corridors.

Chinese car exports

Massarotti said Grimaldi’s maritime connections and the logistics capacity of its Barcelona terminal were helping to bring Chinese-built vehicles into the European market. China’s vehicle exports slightly exceeded three million units in 2022 and, according to forecasts presented at the event, could reach ten million in 2026, with around two million destined for Europe and some 250,000 for Spain.

Grimaldi has taken delivery of 14 new car carriers over the past two years, with three more to follow, bringing the series to 17 vessels. Massarotti also referred to plans announced in Sardinia to add a further ten car carriers from 2030.

The group currently deploys around 30 vessels on routes linking the Far East with Africa, South America and the Mediterranean. In the Mediterranean, these intercontinental services are integrated with Grimaldi’s EuroMed and short-sea networks.

© Shippax