The port of Marín and Ria de Pontevedra is located in the municipalities of Marín and

Pontevedra Pontevedra (, ) is a city in the autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia, in northwestern Spain. It is the capital of both the ''Pontevedra (comarca), Comarca'' and Province of Pontevedra, and the capital of the Rías Baixas. It is als ...

, Galicia (

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

). It is on the southern shore of the

Ria de Pontevedra The Ria de Pontevedra is located in the Province of Pontevedra, in Galicia, Spain. It is one of the three main maritime entrances of Galicia, the Rías Baixas, the most touristic area of the region. It is also the most regular of them and the thi ...

. The port stretches from Punta Pesqueira in the municipality of Marín to Placeres in the municipality of

. It is used as a merchant port (

containers A container is any receptacle or enclosure for holding a product used in storage, packaging, and transportation, including shipping. Things kept inside of a container are protected on several sides by being inside of its structure. The term ...

, bulk) and Fishing port. It is also used as a

marina A marina (from Spanish , Portuguese and Italian : "related to the sea") is a dock or basin with moorings and supplies for yachts and small boats. A marina differs from a port in that a marina does not handle large passenger ships or cargo ...

History

Port activity has been documented in

and its

ria A ria (; , feminine noun derived from ''río'', river) is a coastal inlet formed by the partial submergence of an unglaciated river valley. It is a drowned river valley that remains open to the sea. Definitions Typically rias have a dendriti ...

since Antiquity, thanks to the Roman

milestone A milestone is a numbered marker placed on a route such as a road, railway, railway line, canal or border, boundary. They can indicate the distance to towns, cities, and other places or landmarks like Mileage sign, mileage signs; or they c ...

, which is preserved in the

Pontevedra Museum The Pontevedra Museum (formerly the Pontevedra Provincial Museum) is a museum in the Galicia (Spain), Galician city of Pontevedra in Spain. It was founded by the Provincial Deputation of Pontevedra on 30 December 1927 and has six buildings for i ...

and whose inscription refers to its importance as a maritime communication route. In the 16th century,

was the most important city in Galicia and the port of Pontevedra was the busiest in the region and in northwest Spain. Some historians estimate that the economic movement generated by the settlement could reach 80,000

Ducat The ducat ( ) coin was used as a trade coin in Europe from the later Middle Ages to the 19th century. Its most familiar version, the gold ducat or sequin containing around of 98.6% fine gold, originated in Venice in 1284 and gained wide inter ...

s per year. In the 17th century, the port of Pontevedra began to decline due to the lack of depth needed for the increasingly large ships and due to the silting up caused by the Flooding of the

Lérez The Lérez is a river in South West Galicia (Spain), Galicia, Spain. The river meets the Atlantic Ocean at Pontevedra, where it creates Pontevedra's ria. The sources of the long stream are in Serra do Candán, in the mountain of San Bieito, in t ...

River. The port activity was gradually transferred to Marín. In the middle of the 18th century, the ria of Pontevedra began its commercial and industrial development. Its wealth in fishing led to the establishment of numerous salting and

Canning Canning is a method of food preservation in which food is processed and sealed in an airtight container (jars like Mason jars, and steel and tin cans). Canning provides a shelf life that typically ranges from one to five years, although under ...

factories and other activities related to the sea. The growth and importance of the port in Marín was demonstrated as early as the 18th century thanks to the Oseira monastery, which opened it up to fishing and foreign trade. In 1861, the port of Marin became an important starting point for new routes to

America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. A direct round trip service to

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

and

Montevideo Montevideo (, ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2023 census, the city proper has a population of 1,302,954 (about 37.2% of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

was inaugurated. In 1868, Marín became a first-class maritime district in Spain and benefited from the services of many European and South American consulates due to the important commercial and migratory movement. In 1883, the City Council of Pontevedra requested that the port of Marín become a port of general interest and on 30 August 1886 it was qualified as such. On 5 March 1933, the headquarters of the

port authority A port authority (less commonly a port district) is a governmental or quasi-governmental public authority for a special-purpose district usually formed by a legislative body (or bodies) to operate ports and other transportation infrastructure. ...

was inaugurated in As Corbaceiras, in the port of Pontevedra. In 1992, with the State Ports and Merchant Navy Act, the entity responsible for the port of Marín became the Port Authority of Marín and Ría de Pontevedra. On 30 July 2010, the new headquarters of the Port Authority was inaugurated inside the port, in the Cantodarea Park in Marín.

Docks and facilities

The Port of Marín has a total of 1,806 metres of commercial docks for maritime traffic and 2,686 metres of fishing docks used for fishing and supply activities. The port has more than 75 hectares of port space and more than 9,800 hectares of sea area. The port has, among other facilities, a modern, air-conditioned Fish Auction Hall, a covered terminal, an internal rail network, a border inspection post and two

Shipyard A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are shipbuilding, built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Compared to shipyards, which are sometimes m ...

Commercial docks

* Marín Commercial Wharf: General cargo * New Commercial Wharf of Marín No. 0:

Repairs The technical meaning of maintenance involves functional checks, servicing, repairing or replacing of necessary devices, equipment, machinery, building infrastructure and supporting utilities in industrial, business, and residential installa ...

* New Marín Commercial Wharf 1: General cargo * Manuel Leirós Pier 1: Dry

bulk cargo Bulk cargo is Product (business), product cargo that is transported packaging, unpackaged in large quantities. Description Bulk cargo refers to material in either liquid or granular, particulate (as a mass of relatively small solids) form, ...

by special installation, general cargo * Manuel Leirós Pier 2: Dry bulk by general installation, general cargo * Commercial wharf South: general cargo * Manuel Leirós transverse quay: general cargo * Adolfo Reboredo quay 1:

Container ship A container ship (also called boxship or spelled containership) is a cargo ship that carries all of its load in truck-size intermodal containers, in a technique called containerization. Container ships are a common means of commercial intermodal ...

s, general cargo * Adolfo Reboredo quay 2:

s, general cargo * Adolfo Reboredo quay 3:

s, general cargo * Expansion quay East: general cargo * West quay: general cargo, bulk

Fishing docks

* North fishing dock * East fishing dock * South fishing dock *

Inshore A coast (coastline, shoreline, seashore) is the land next to the sea or the line that forms the boundary between the land and the ocean or a lake. Coasts are influenced by the topography of the surrounding landscape and by aquatic erosion, su ...

fishing dock West * Inshore fishing dock East * Inshore South fishing dock * Inshore fishing

ramp An inclined plane, also known as a ramp, is a flat supporting surface tilted at an angle from the vertical direction, with one end higher than the other, used as an aid for raising or lowering a load. The inclined plane is one of the six clas ...

* Floating piers * Ria Passenger

Jetty A jetty is a man-made structure that protrudes from land out into water. A jetty may serve as a breakwater (structure), breakwater, as a walkway, or both; or, in pairs, as a means of constricting a channel. The term derives from the French la ...

* Ons Island Pier * Repair dock 1 * Repair dock 2

Traffic

Commercial traffic

In 2017, the total traffic of the port of Marín and Ría de Pontevedra was 2,523,054 tonnes. Bulk traffic accounted for 915,812 tonnes per year. The most commonly imported goods are fruit, Cereals,

paper pulp Pulp is a fibrous lignocellulosic material prepared by chemically, semi-chemically, or mechanically isolating the cellulosic fibers of wood, fiber crops, waste paper, or rags. Mixed with water and other chemicals or plant-based additives, pul ...

, frozen fish or steel products. The port of Marín is also a major logistics hub for the reception, processing and dispatch of frozen seafood products. Traffic has increased significantly in recent years, in particular thanks to the

container A container is any receptacle or enclosure for holding a product used in storage, packaging, and transportation, including shipping. Things kept inside of a container are protected on several sides by being inside of its structure. The term ...

terminal which generated a movement of 88,938 tonnes in 2017.

Road and rail connections

Internal connections

Road transport

The docks are connected by a network of internal roads of granite paving stones on concrete.

Railway

The port of Pontevedra has an internal railway network that allows access to the unloading areas and warehouses. This internal rail network has 7,000 metres of track.

External connections

Road transport

The port is connected to the

ring road A ring road (also known as circular road, beltline, beltway, circumferential (high)way, loop or orbital) is a road or a series of connected roads encircling a town, city or country. The most common purpose of a ring road is to assist in reducin ...

, allowing easy access to the rest of the country, including the AP-9 motorway (

A Coruña A Coruña (; ; also informally called just Coruña; historical English: Corunna or The Groyne) is a city and municipality in Galicia, Spain. It is Galicia's second largest city, behind Vigo. The city is the provincial capital of the province ...

- Tui). The PO-11 is an urban motorway of approximately 4 km that connects the AP-9 and the PO-10 (Pontevedra's southern bypass) to the Port of Marín in the southwest of the city. It serves the port and allows direct access to the port without crossing

from the AP-9. It continues the Southern Bypass (PO-10) and crosses the AP-9 south of Pontevedra. It then branches off with the Western Bypass (PO-12) to the southwest of the city and then follows the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...

coast to the Port of Marín.

Railway

The railway in the service area of the Port of Marín is connected to the national network via the main station in Pontevedra, allowing the transport of goods through

RENFE Renfe (, ), officially Renfe-Operadora, is Spain's national state-owned railway company. It was created in 2005 upon the split of the former Spanish National Railway Network (RENFE) into the Administrador de Infraestructuras Ferroviarias ( ...

Gallery

File:Marin Porto parcial.JPG, File:Puerto de Marín-Una grúa (8466629953).jpg, File:Anochece en el puerto de Marín (9640719935).jpg, File:Gaviotas en el Puerto de Marín (8500394776).jpg, File:Farola y grúa en el puerto de Marín (10754328805).jpg, File:Muelle de reparaciones - panoramio.jpg, File:BB 2 PUERTO DE MARIN.jpg, File:Entrada ao porto de Marín.jpg, File:Puerto de Marín-Con las redes a bordo (9675254741).jpg, File:Marín-Puerto520 (8263971914).jpg, File:Porto de Marín. Embarcacións. Galiza.jpg, File:Porto de Marín. Sinal. Galiza.jpg,

History

Docks and facilities

Commercial docks

Fishing docks

Traffic

Commercial traffic

Road and rail connections

Internal connections

Road transport

Railway

External connections

Road transport

Railway

Gallery

References

See also

Related articles

External links