Expansion in the works for the Praia da Vitória Port on Terceira Island

The pier at the Port of Praia da Vitória is to be extended by 350 meters, in an investment of 30 million euros, increasing its capacity to receive cargo ships, but also passenger and cruise ships, which once had a dock planned for Porto das Pipas in Angra and the so-called port of the Americans in Praia.
“It will extend the multipurpose quay by another 350 meters, on top of the current 300 meters, with a depth of around 20 meters. It will expand very significantly, doubling. We’ll have 700 meters of berthing for cargo and passenger transport,” said the President of the Regional Government yesterday. José Manuel Bolieiro spoke to journalists on the sidelines of the inauguration of works to upgrade the shops, warehouse, and port operations building at the port of Praia da Vitória.

According to the head of the Azorean executive, Portos dos Açores is already carrying out “geological studies for the future launch of the project” to extend the pier, which should happen “by the end of the year.” Without committing to a date for the start of the work, the Government’s President said that the quay’s extension will be a public investment, possibly co-financed by EU funds. “The figure will be around 30 million euros. The date depends on the geological studies to form the project. I’d say as soon as possible,” he said.

Asked about the creation of a cruise ship pier at the port used by the US Air Force on the other side of the city, which had previously been suggested as a solution for this type of ship on Terceira Island, José Manuel Bolieiro said that extending the pier at the current commercial port would meet the island’s “needs and expectations” in this sector.
“I’m not going to rule anything out because everything evolves, but our strategy now is this, not least because the other part depends not on the domain of the Azores, but on the domain of the Ministry of Defense and, according to information passed on to me by the Portos dos Açores administration, there has been no opening on the part of the Ministry of National Defense,” he explained.

Yesterday, the president of the Azorean executive inaugurated works to upgrade the existing infrastructure at the Port of Praia da Vitória, which cost 2.5 million euros, stressing that the infrastructure “is a real springboard for development for the island of Terceira and the Azores,” an expression he had recently used to refer to the Port of Ponta Delgada.
“It is my deep conviction that the geostrategic position of this port is fundamental to optimizing it and boosting its capacity for development, not just for Terceira island, but for the enormous contribution of Terceira island and this port to the economy of the Azores,” he said during his speech at the inauguration of the works.

José Manuel Bolieiro also revealed that the Council of Government, meeting yesterday on Terceira Island, decided to recognize as being in the public interest an investment by the company Logislink in the creation of a “logistics services platform” next to the Port of Praia da Vitória.
The enterprise will be set up on land in an agricultural reserve area, with an investment of 8 million euros and the creation of 25 jobs.
According to information obtained by DI-the newspaper Diário Insular-, the Sousa group company, which already has a logistics terminal in Ponta Delgada, intends to build a terminal in Terceira with a 5000 square meter covered area, with the capacity to expand to 8000 square meters in a second phase.

from Diário Insular, José Lourenço-director

Translated to English as a community outreach program from the Portuguese Beyond Borders Institute (PBBI) and the Modern and Classical Languages and Cultures Department (MCLL) as part of Bruma Publication and ADMA (Azores-Diaspora Medial Alliance) at California State University, Fresno.