Why do no cruise ships dock at Playa Blanca? Yaiza's mayor demands answers from Puertos Canarios

The port of Playa Blanca was expanded with European funds so it could receive international cruise ships. The problem is that they do not come. Yaiza's mayor, Óscar Noda, wrote on Friday to Pablo Rodríguez, the Canary Islands Government's minister for public works and chairman of Puertos Canarios, formally asking what is going on.

What he is asking, point by point

• Border control: what steps Puertos Canarios has taken with the competent authorities so that Playa Blanca can receive international cruise passengers. Without it, a ship from outside the Schengen area cannot land passengers.
• The November call: where things stand with the stop already scheduled at Playa Blanca, and whether anything might prevent the ship berthing.
• What was told to the shipping lines: whether Puertos Canarios is aware of any operator being told that certain cruise ships may only operate in the port of Arrecife. And if so, who said it, by what means, and what exactly was said.
• The European money: what obligations came with the funding that paid for the port's expansion, and whether there is any risk of having to repay it given how the infrastructure is currently being used.
• Promotion: what Puertos Canarios has done to bring cruise business to Playa Blanca, and how it has coordinated with the regional government and the Cabildo.

Noda is also requesting an 'urgent' meeting of the Puertos Canarios Advisory Council, the body on which Yaiza is represented by the mayor himself.

He has asked before

That is what gives the letter its weight. 'Last December I asked the Advisory Council about towage, mooring and pilotage services, and about security and immigration controls, understanding that all of these are basic requirements for cruise ships to berth,' Noda says. 'The prolonged silence, and the lack of information and communication with the council, worry me.'

Why it matters to the whole south

A cruise ship that docks means passengers who come ashore, eat, shop and book excursions. If the ships only stop at Arrecife, that trade stays in the capital. For Playa Blanca, which has a port expanded precisely for this and which lives on tourism, the difference is not a matter of principle: it is a matter of takings.