The ship that will transport the waste from Ibiza is already sailing towards the Balearic Islands

PalmaThe ship that will transport waste from Ibiza to Mallorca is already sailing from the Canary Islands to the Balearic Islands. The Al Andalus, the vessel that Baleària has assigned to transport the waste to the Son Reus incinerator, will arrive in Ibiza in the coming days, according to maritime tracking data consulted by ARA Balears.

The shipping company has confirmed to this newspaper that this is the vessel assigned to the service, although there is still no fixed date to start the transfers. "We are awaiting the start of the service," Baleària indicates.

The company also informs that the Al Andalus has a capacity of 1,275 linear meters of cargo and that the waste will be transported with other goods. The ship, therefore, will not be exclusively dedicated to waste transport.

The contract to transport the waste, awarded by the Consell d'Eivissa, is for three months and includes all the logistics of the service: the adaptation of the waste at Ca na Putxa, the land transport to the port, the sea journey, and the final treatment at the Son Reus facilities. It was directly awarded to UTE GIREF for 2.99 million euros, as it is the company that already manages the public waste treatment service in Ibiza.

Agreement between Mallorca and Ibiza

The arrival of Al Andalus coincides with the final processing phase of the agreement between the councils of Ibiza and Mallorca. Although it has not yet been signed, all the necessary technical and administrative documentation is already approved. In recent weeks, ARA Balears reported that the Council of Mallorca modified the initial technical criteria to authorize the reception of waste from Ibiza. If initially it required all waste to be transported in compacted and shrink-wrapped bales, it was finally accepted that part of the load could be transported in bulk during the pilot test.

The project has also generated political, neighborhood, and environmental opposition. The PSIB and MÉS per Mallorca have denounced the lack of information about the agreement, while the GOB and various neighborhood associations have filed an administrative contentious appeal against the agreement between the two councils. The entities consider that the transfer will increase the environmental burden that Mallorca assumes and question whether an operation presented as a pilot test could end up being consolidated.

Al Andalus is a horizontal cargo ferry built in 1987. It entered service to transport trains between France and the United Kingdom before the opening of the Channel Tunnel and was later converted into a roll-on/roll-off cargo ship. It will now be responsible for assuming the first regular maritime transport of waste between Ibiza and Mallorca.