Month: January 2024

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Hydrogen bus order in Barcelona totals €23m

Gas

The city of Barcelona has coughed up just over €23m for hydrogen buses.

It is buying 38 hydrogen fuel-cell buses from Polish manufacturer Solaris.

The buses, purchased by publicly-owned transport company TMB, will be fueled with green hydrogen supplied by Iberdrola.

The new fleet will consist of 26 12-metre buses and two articulated 18-metre buses.

The two largest buses are the first in the country.

Part of the bill will be met by the European Commission’s NextGenerationEU post-Covid recovery fund. This awarded €21.24m to TMB in July 2023. The plan is to buy 36 hydrogen buses, 23 electric buses and two trains.

Eight hydrogen buses already operate in Barcelona, supplied by Portuguese bus maker Caetano. The city hopes to have 44 hydrogen buses by 2025, together with 232 electric models.

Hydrogen buses tend to be more expensive to purchase and run, but can better handle routes that electric buses can’t – such as long, or hilly stretches.

 

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Spain reveals plan to place ID card on phone

Mobile telephone/

Spain has revealed plans to be the first country to have a national identity document on a mobile phone. 

The revelation came from Francisco Pardo Piqueras, the General Director of the National Police.

He was talking at the recent inauguration of Las Rozas’, the new police documentation office in Madrid. The office issues national IDs, passports and foreigner identity cards.

No date was set for the launch.

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Spanish exports targeted by French farmers

French old car.

As protests from French farmers pick up pace throughout the country, the Spanish are finding themselves at the sharp end of the dispute.

The farmers might be blockading their motorways, but they are directly taking their arguments to Spanish hauliers and companies.

There have been a number of incidents where one of the main borders between Spain and France, at La Jonquera (which passes over the southern Pyrenees), has been blocked by French farmers. In some incidents, Spanish lorries have been stopped and their cargoes destroyed. There has been thousands of euros damage to loads, lorries and equipment.   

Cargoes target included wine, vegetables and fruit. 

French farmers are incensed that cheaper Spanish goods are undermining their own markets.

The Spanish government has lodged formal complaints, saying the situation is “…absolutely unacceptable.” Whilst the government supports protest, it has to be out violent means, or coercion. 

The start of the year is a key period for Spanish exports, directed at France. France also offers a through route to many other countries.  

Back in 2023, January witnessed exports of 1,240,000 tonnes of fresh fruit and vegetables, which had a value of $1.6bn.

 

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Madrid’s international airport set for take-off

Madrid Airport

Madrid Barajas is to undergo a massive expansion, making it Europe’s fastest-growing airport. 

The news that the airport will receive 2.4bn euros in investment was announced by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Friday. He was speaking at the FITUR tourism fair. 

The airport should be able handle over 90 million passengers a year by 2031, a near 30% increase. 

Sanchez highlighted that the airport was becoming a pivotal hub for Latin America, as well as developing important connections to Asia.

 

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Ryanair readies to climb in Spain

Low cost airline Ryanair has big plans for Spain, as long as the country’s airport operator Aena plays ball.

That appears to be the message articulated by the Dublin-based company´s top brass during recent visits to Spain.

When Ryanair group CEO Michael O’Leary met with Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on 12 January, 2024, he talked of a future investment of five billion euros over the next seven years.

Next along came Eddie Wilson, CEO of the group’s largest airline Ryanair DAC, who said they wanted to grow in Spain by 40% by the end of the decade. He was speaking at a tourism event on 22 January, 2024, and told the media that they were looking to grow passenger traffic from 55 million to 77 million.

He also said for that to happen, the supportive infrastructure needed to offer competitive charges, which would not be the case if a planned 4.09% increase in tariffs by airport operator Aena took place in March.

Wilson made the point that Ryanair´s decision to invest had been made on the promise that such increases would be delayed until at least 2026. Wilson called for the increase in charges to be reversed and that tourism should be expanded into other regions throughout the country, not just near the beaches.

Government transport minister Oscar Puente has said that the rise would go ahead, which even then would still be below pre-pandemic levels.