The O.R.I.G.I.N Of A Hero

(i)Chapter-3(Mission:Synthesize)

"Unlike you to me being eliminated is much more better then being inconsequential,"

It was night around 1:39 AM basically morning...anyways we are currently at Algeciras.

It's a city of the Andalucia region of south western Spain.

Most travellers come to Algeciras for it's numerous ferry connections towards Morocco and don't spend more than a few hours in the city.

A shame, given the town's quiet charm.

Spain is covered by water on three sides, making it ideal for establishing ports and other shipping hubs. Well-connected facilities are linked to several international airports of the region.

Shipping is a vital industry in Spain. However, fishing is prominent along with most coastal villages and cities. In fact, Pescanova, which is one of the largest fish exporters in the world, is based out of Spain. The main exports from the country include foodstuff, fish, minerals, minor oil produce, chemicals etc.

These ports and shipyards are considered to be facilities of national interest. They are independently operated under different port authorities but are centrally managed by the Ports of the State, which is a government-owned company responsible for the execution of policies. It is known regionally as Puertos del Estado.

Among them Algeciras Bay is located in the Cadiz province of Andalusia and is the largest port in Spain in terms of gross tonnage passing through annually.It is managed by the Port Authority of Algeciras Bay and neighbours the Port of Tarifa.

Due to its proximity to the Bay of Gibraltar, it experiences a large portion of the traffic in Spain. It is ranked 33rd in the global list of largest ports & is the largest along the Mediterranean coast.

The facilities within the port include container handling terminals, tankers and bunker fuel services, passenger and cruise ship wharfs, ro-ro docks, wholly dedicated wharves for the local fishing industry.

The port is one of the newer ones in Spain but has established itself as a major shipping hub. It connects to nearly 200 ports on a weekly basis, handles imports, exports, and transhipment. The port is visited by nearly 30,000 ships annually.

The main terminals that operate within the port include the APM Algeciras Terminal and the Total Terminal International Algeciras (TTI ALG). They house state of the art facilities, with several ships to shore cranes.

They can accommodate super Panamax, post-Panamax, as well as several mega-ships.Over 100 mega-ships berth at the Algeciras Port annually. These vessels are capable of transporting more than 18,000 TEUs per voyage.

The Port of Algeciras is located at the strategic spot for global maritime of the Strait of Gibraltar and particularly, in the Bay of Algeciras, with excellent natural conditions and advanced port facilities that have allowed to consolidate it among the top EU commercial ports by exceeding the record figure of 100 million tons total throughput.

In fact, The Port of Algeciras, is the 1st Spanish and 4th European port in terms of total cargo and the 6th European port in total container throughput in 2020. Main figures in 2020 are: 107,3 M Tons total traffic, 5,1 M TEUs, 1,5 M passengers, 2 M Tons of bunker and 18.322 vessel port calls, 1.2 million vehicles – more than 370.000 HGVs – that make the Port of Algeciras Bay the maritime bridge between Europe and Africa.

With more than 110.000 ships/year crossing the Strait of Gibraltar, Algeciras is offering a superior quality of service, reliability, completeness, and connectivity promoting a one-stop-shop port concept for vessel services (bunkering, repairs, ship supplies and others). In such a context, Algeciras Port is the first port in Europe in terms of efficiency as regards to the container port performance index and one of the TOP10 EU ports according to the Port liner shipping connectivity index (LSCI, elaborated by the UNCTAD in 2020).