They file the tender to manage the Golondrines pier in Palma for alleged irregularities

PalmaThe Balearic Port Authority (APB) has decided to archive the tender to award the management of the Golondrines dock in the port of Palma after detecting indications of a possible leak of the procedure's bases, a fact that has called into question the guarantees of transparency in one of the most sensitive concessions on the city's waterfront.

The port authority justifies the decision due to an "unavoidable violation of the principles of equality, non-discrimination, and transparency," an administrative expression that points to the suspicion that key information about the tender may have circulated before its official publication. This situation could have altered competition between operators and distorted the outcome of the process.

The decision was adopted unanimously by the Board of Directors of the Port Authority of the Balearic Islands, where it was also agreed not to open the offers already submitted to preserve their confidentiality and avoid possible harm to the bidders. In parallel, the council has approved re-announcing the tender with new terms, in an attempt to strengthen the guarantees of the procedure.

The case arises at a particularly sensitive time for this activity, which manages the services of the well-known tourist boats "golondrines" (swallows) on the Palma waterfront, a sector immersed for years in reorganization processes and tensions between operators, administration, and the urban environment.

A sector under pressure and with recent shadows

The APB's decision is framed within a context where the management of tourist boats has been the subject of recurrent controversy, both for the conditions of the concessions and for the tensions between companies opting to exploit a strategic business within the public port domain.

In parallel, the sector has recently been shaken by other episodes that have come to light, such as the investigated case of the alleged delivery of 20,000 euros hidden in a box of chocolates to a person in charge of the Government's Coastal area, an episode that has put the spotlight on the pressure dynamics surrounding certain maritime concessions in the Balearic Islands.

This set of factors has reinforced the feeling that the management of maritime excursion services and mooring points in the Bay of Palma operates in a particularly sensitive environment, where business competition coexists with increasing administrative scrutiny and the need to safeguard public procurement procedures.

With the tender now archived, the APB will have to redesign the concession conditions again, with the stated objective of ensuring a more robust process and preventing situations that could compromise confidence in the management of a key space on the Palma coastline.