Port accessThe agreement, renewed for a further 4 years with a budget of 1.3 million euros, upgrades the security of the port facilities and boosts the capacity of the Port to respond to emergencies. This collaboration between the two parties puts the Port of Bilbao at the forefront of the port system in terms of its capacity to respond to possible incidents caused by hazardous goods and in other emergency situations.
The Provincial Council of Bizkaia and the Bilbao Port Authority have renewed their collaboration agreement to prevent and/or respond to emergencies that may occur in the facilities of the Port of Bilbao, including those involving vessels, using the Fire Fighting, Prevention and Rescue Service of the Provincial Council. In view of the excellent results of this ongoing collaboration for the last 30 years or so, both organisations have decided to renew this agreement for a further 4 years.
The new agreement, approved today by the Governance Board of the Provincial Council, provides for 1,300,000 euros to be invested in material and equipment for emergency intervention. These funds will be invested by the Port Authority in four annual instalments, increasing from 315,000 euros per year under the previous agreement to 325,000 per year in the new agreement.
As a result of the renewal of this agreement, the firefighters of the Provincial Council of Bizkaia will further strengthen their position as the intervention group in the Port of Bilbao. They will respond to fires and other incidents that may occur in the port area, taking on the functions of self-protection for risk prevention, alarm, evacuation and rescue actions, as well as fire-fighting, rescue, salvage and rehabilitation of essential services. They will also work together with the Bilbao Port Authority in investigating and analysing incidents, in conducting prevention and training courses, in the preparation of projects and reports on new works or refurbishment of fire-fighting facilities and in performing joint training manoeuvres and drills. As a risk prevention and mitigation measure, a team of preventive firefighters, equipped with all the necessary technical resources, will be on standby during the loading and unloading of goods classified as particularly hazardous.
For its part, the Bilbao Port Authority will continue to provide the firefighters of the Provincial Council of Bizkaia with technical equipment and all specific training required when dealing with incidents that may occur in the port, given its specific characteristics. The Fire Fighting, Prevention and Rescue Service of the Provincial Council of Bizkaia, with stations close to the port area, ensures a rapid and effective response, especially from the Urioste Station, thanks to its strategic location and multiple accesses.
Three decades of fruitful collaboration
The Provincial Council and the Port Authority have worked together since 1996 to improve port security, making the Port of Bilbao a national benchmark in the prevention and management of emergencies related to its port activities.
Under the previous agreement (2021-2024), now to be renewed, the Port Authority was provided with innovative equipment such as a multi-purpose robot, the first of its kind to be used in Spain in an emergency service, designed to operate in high-risk environments. A container truck crane was also acquired to further improve the capacities of the service.
Thanks to this collaboration, the Port of Bilbao stands out as one of the best prepared in Spain in terms of emergency response capacity, strengthening its leadership in safety and operational capability.
