The Port Authority of the Balearic Islands (APB) has closed the selective process to cover the Head of Division of the Delegation of Ibiza and La Savina, the position that is equivalent to the management of the ports of Ibiza and La Savina. The engineer Pedro Puigdengoles will be the new responsible, after almost half a year with the delegation vacant since the departure of Ignacio Revilla.
The position acts de facto as management of the ports of Ibiza and Formentera, and centralizes the daily management, security and control of concessions in both enclaves, as detailed in the rules of the contest advanced by La Voz de Ibizawhich already warned that the ports would remain without a director until at least November.
A well-known profile in the ports of the Balearic Islands
Puigdengoles is a civil engineer, specialized in maritime engineering, and has spent most of his career in consulting and management of port infrastructures in Ibiza and the rest of the Balearic Islands, both in the private sector and in the administration.
The new director of the ports of Ibiza and La Savina was manager of Ports de les Illes Balears (Ports IB) since 2015, the public entity that manages the ports of autonomous competence. In addition to his time at the head of Ports IB, Puigdengoles has worked as a technician and consultant for companies in the sector and operators of basic services, including water management in Ibiza.
His name has gained special public relevance in recent months for his role as a reference engineer for the Association of Moorers of the Ibiza Yacht Club, which has questioned the actions of the concessionaire of the marina Port Nàutic Ibiza. In a report on this conflict, La Voz de Ibiza recounted one of the most striking episodes of the case: Puigdengoles signed a report in which he argued that the new floating dock did not exist and, at the same time, asked the concessionaire to visit precisely that dock that he considered non-existent, a key part of the marina project.
That report, and the subsequent request to visit the same dock whose existence it denied, led the concessionaire Puertos y Litorales Sostenibles (PyLS) to announce legal action against Puigdengoles and the president of the Association of Moorers, Nahiara Cardona, whom it accused of causing serious economic and reputational damage, as the company explained in another report in this newspaper.
Almost half a year without management
Since June, when Revilla was removed from his duties and the APB confirmed that the delegation was vacant, the effective management of the ports of Ibiza and La Savina has been exercised from the headquarters in Palma, a situation that generated discomfort among concessionaires and users and that was described as “headless ports” in a previous report by La Voz de Ibiza.
In July, the APB made official the termination of the employment relationship with Ignacio Revilla after seven years at the head of the delegation of the ports of Ibiza and La Savina, which consolidated the management vacuum that now closes with the proposed appointment of Puigdengoles, according to the documentation published in the electronic headquarters and data collected by this medium.
What will the new director of the ports of Ibiza and La Savina do?
According to the bases of the FC 2024-04 procedure, the Head of Division will assume the management, supervision and control of port operations in Ibiza and La Savina, in coordination with the different areas of the APB, with special responsibility for essential services and the security of the facilities.
Among the functions cited in the bases are the supervision of port traffic and port police, the management of self-protection and emergency plans, the processing of berthing and dangerous goods authorizations, as well as the role of security officer for the port and its facilities, a key role in maritime security.
The position also involves the supervision of concessions and authorizations for the occupation of the public domain, support in legal matters, infrastructures and conservation, and coordination with other administrations, in addition to the administrative management of the personnel assigned to the ports of Ibiza and La Savina, under the direct dependence of the APB Management, according to the same annex.
With the appointment of Puigdengoles, day-to-day decisions will no longer be channeled exclusively from the APB’s headquarters in Palma, but will once again be concentrated in a separate directorate in Ibiza.
According to the electronic headquarters of the APB, the procedure FC 2024-04 is already closed . However, the port authority has not yet specified the exact date of incorporation or if it foresees any public act of presentation of the new head of the delegation, although in the initial schedule of the process it was suggested that the final resolution would arrive around November and that the administrative closure could be extended a few more weeks, as it has finally happened.
