It was inevitable. Since it became known that Lisbon was going to organize the World Youth Day (WYD) and locate it on the riverside next to the mouth of the Trancão, it became imperative to find a new location for the Bobadela container terminal. The contract will only be completed in 2026, but work is already underway. However, an issue has been resolved. The southern terminal was concessioned to Medway, the country’s largest rail freight operator, by Infraestruturas de Portugal (IP). Due to WYD, IP had to anticipate the end of the concession. The termination of the contract cost the public company €933,000.
“Under the terms of the resolution, in the public interest, of the Concession Agreement that existed with Medway (which operated in the south terminal), compensation of 933,000 euros was paid,” an official IP source told the Observer.
The concession ended but Medway did not completely abandon the terminal. Al Observador, the company reveals that “it ended, at the request of the Government, its activity in the South Terminal of Bobadela, before the deadline of the concession contract (October 2026), for the realization of the World Youth Day in August 2023”. And that currently “uses the space of Infraestruturas de Portugal in the North Terminal of Bobadela”.
The decision to vacate that area was carried out through a Resolution of the Council of Ministers of April 2021, which created the project group for WYD and determined “the vacancy of the portions necessary for its realization”, in addition to setting “a relocation schedule of the Bobadela Road and Rail Logistics Complex”.
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Source: Observadora
