This week the extension of the Química Quay, which is being built by FCC, hosted its maiden operation. The 125-metre Chem Orion, with a draft of 7.76 metres and a beam of 18.8 metres, became the first ship to operate at the quay.

The enlargement of the Química Quay is the main item the Tarragona Harbour authorities are working on to improve the service the harbour provides for the chemical companies doing business in Tarragona's industrial parks. The enlargement, which will become fully operational in summer 2013, will boost the logistical competitiveness of Tarragona Harbour and the chemical firms that operate out of it.

The new quay has a yard of about 18 hectares reclaimed from the sea and an additional berthing line close to 1,200 metres long, built using 34 reinforced-concrete caissons. It also has four new, deeper unloading points, where the largest of today's chemical tankers can dock.
In October 2010 the Tarragona Harbour Authority chose a joint venture pairing FCC Construcción with COPISA to enlarge the quay. The contract was worth 67.4 million euros, VAT included, and the completion period was 26 and a half months.

The project has entailed moving thirty-three stainless-steel and welded carbon-steel pipes of different diameters for discharging products such as gas oil, benzene, acetic acid, polyols and nitrogen, plus six articulated loading arms. They were carried over water, by pontoon crane.

Berth Number Four, where concession holders' bulk liquids are loaded and unloaded, was moved lock, stock and barrel, a process that was impressively complex construction-wise and accounted for a sizeable portion of the project's economic resources. Yet it was done without any service down time. Joint planning with the chemical companies was fundamental, to schedule the order in which the pipes were to be left in service to suit the product discharge timetable. This sliced the length of time initially expected to get the berth operational in its new location from two months to one.

The new infrastructure lies inside the harbour basin adjoining the Francolí River's mouth. It lengthens the old Química Quay significantly and responds to the demand for larger facilities to accommodate the quay's fast-growing activity.