Baleària warns that restrictions on vehicles travelling to the islands could reduce maritime services and affect supplies without easing congestion

Esto es un subtítulo

• The shipping executive believes the regulations should address the underlying problem rather than blame maritime transport, which has little impact on road traffic congestion.
• Baleària’s president has offered to engage in dialogue with the Balearic institutions to find solutions to traffic saturation without jeopardising the viability of the islands’ maritime transport network

The president of Baleària, Adolfo Utor, warned today that regulations controlling the influx of vehicles to the islands ‘represent a direct attack on maritime transport, a sector that is essential for supplies, freight logistics and residents’ mobility’. ‘Anyone who thought this measure would solve road congestion was mistaken and has also overlooked the collateral damage it will cause to island society and the economy,’ said Utor, who took part this morning in Madrid in the round-table discussion ‘Managing sustainable mobility’, organised by Exceltur as part of the Solytur event. The panel also included Vicent Marí, president of the Consell d’Eivissa; Javier Diaz-Laviada, General Manager of Hertz Spain; and Toni Pérez, Mayor of Benidorm.

Utor stressed that he supports ‘measures that reduce overcrowding and reconcile the interests of residents and visitors’, emphasising that this is ‘from the standpoint of a ferry operator firmly committed to sustainability’. However, he said that the proposed restrictions ‘are more cosmetic than effective, do nothing to address the problem they are intended to solve and, at the same time, damage the Balearic Islands’ maritime transport network’. Baleària’s president warned that, in the short term, these measures could mean ‘residents no longer have ferry services available to travel with their cars, or logistics companies have fewer transport options’.

Baleària’s president cited figures from Mallorca last summer, when the net balance across all ferry operators —taking embarkations and disembarkations into account— peaked on 9 August at 6,478 vehicles, with an average net balance of 2,022 cars during the high season. This represents 0.2% of the island’s total vehicle fleet. ‘The arrival of cars by ferry therefore cannot be the cause of the perceived congestion,’ said Utor, who also recalled that the islands have the highest vehicle-to-population ratio in Spain, with almost one car per resident. (SEE ATTACHED REPORT)

In response to a measure that ‘shifts all responsibility and economic harm onto the maritime transport network’, Utor explained that the ferry operator has submitted representations on the regulation being processed by the Consell d’Eivissa. Utor believes it should be provisionally suspended so that the measures can be agreed with all stakeholders, and he has made himself available to the institutions: ‘Ferry operators want to be part of the solution’.

Utor also maintained that ‘the three pillars underpinning the economic balance of maritime transport are freight, residents and their vehicles, and domestic tourists and their cars. If this balance is disrupted, it could lead to fewer sailings and higher prices, with a negative impact on supplies and mobility that would set the quality of maritime transport back decades’.

He also believes that the measures favour air transport, which is not subject to any restrictions, and the car hire sector, which faces less severe limitations. ‘Sustainable mobility management should prioritise the least polluting modes of transport, such as maritime transport,’ said Utor, who recalled Baleària’s commitment to using cleaner energy and implementing eco-efficient measures to reduce its carbon footprint. ‘This is already a reality for us: in 2024, we reduced CO2 emissions per passenger by 9.5%.’

Utor also believes that the regulations ‘affect a fundamental right: citizens’ freedom of movement within their national territory’, with negative consequences both for Balearic Islands residents who wish to travel between islands with their own vehicles and for domestic tourism. He said there is a bias in favour of international tourism —whose visitors usually arrive by air and hire a car— to the detriment of domestic tourism, which primarily uses maritime transport, with the ability to take a vehicle being its main advantage.