The recovery of maritime traffic in the port of Los Cristianos, after passenger figures fell in the first year of the pandemic (2020) to almost half the volume registered in 2019, once again highlights the limitations of the aronero dock, which connects the south of Tenerife with La Palma, La Gomera and El Hierro.
The latest update from the Canary Institute of Statistics indicates that throughout 2021 the number of passengers who embarked or disembarked in Los Cristianos was 1,568,495. They are 452,992 more than the previous year, marked by confinement, and 401,960 less than in 2019, in which two million users were touched. But traffic problems were increased by the record number of vehicles transported by Fred. Olsen and Armas, the two shipping companies that operate in the southern dock: 475,140, almost 33,000 more than the year before the pandemic.
The pull of the Cumbre Vieja volcano can be seen in the statistics. Thus, for the first time, the month of 2021 that registered the highest passenger movement was November (216,536), above August, which usually leads the figures year after year (209,232). October, at the height of the eruption on La Palma, was in third place with 203,996 travellers. The shipping companies came to reinforce their frequencies with the Isla Bonita several weekends and during the bridges of All Saints and the Constitution.
Arona City Council has conveyed to the Port Authority the need for it to undertake investments in the enclosure, although without increasing its surface area, to improve the entrances and exits of vehicles. The Consistory, which has described the mobility problems in the area as serious, also demands public resources to bury the traffic from Chayofita Avenue almost to the highway, a project that includes the installation of the new transport interchange on top and a grand boulevard.
The proposal for the Delimitation of the Port Spaces and Uses of the Port of Los Cristianos, drawn up by the Port Authority and approved by its Board of Directors, which seeks to optimize the use of the spaces of the southern wharf and favor port-city interaction, proposes freeing a total of 4,773 square meters. This is how representatives of the Port Authority transferred it to the Arona Government group at the last Port-City meeting. Similarly, from the Consistory the item of five million euros that Nueva Canarias managed to include in the General State Budgets is valued.
A report from the Santa Cruz de Tenerife Demarcation of the College of Civil Engineers, Canals and Ports advanced by this newspaper last month, warns that operational problems will worsen in the future, given the projections of passenger traffic, vehicles and merchandise.
The document underlines that “already today there are occasional but frequent saturations at the ferry loading and unloading concourse, which adds to the problems arising from traffic congestion on Chayofita Avenue and in the connection with the TF-1 , a problem that, although it is generated by local traffic, fully affects the port, especially the departure of vehicles during landings”.
In addition, the report indicates that Los Cristianos has deficiencies in the docking areas, since the lengths of the ships that operate are greater than the length of the docks, for which it considers it necessary to “build an exterior dock, which implies invading the Special Conservation Area”.
