The strategic plan for the Port of Leixões 2025-2035 foresees the installation of a marina on the outer face of the south breakwater of the facility, that is, on the Matosinhos Beach side, according to the document.
According to the chosen scenario of the Strategic Plan 2025–2035, with the construction of the new North Container Terminal, currently in the environmental assessment phase, this implies “the elimination of the Leixões marina (with the creation of a new recreational port on the exterior side of the South Breakwater and/or other reinforcement solutions on the Douro River)”.
“With the extension of the North Breakwater, ongoing, it will be possible to create support for recreational boating (recreational port) and nautical sports (clubs) on the seaward side of the South Breakwater, enabling a total capacity of about 400 berths for recreational vessels, consolidating the possibility that this breakwater may become a hub of attractiveness associated with tourism”, the document reads.
The graphics provided in the document confirm the addition of the marina on the Matosinhos Beach side, joining the “area not yet infrastructured, adjacent to the South Cruise Terminal, intended for the establishment of a recreational port for 170 vessels”.
Currently, the Port of Leixões has a recreational quay “located at the base of the North Breakwater of the Port of Leixões, with a mooring capacity for about 250 vessels”.
In the presentation of the plan, at the end of January, the president of the Administration of Ports of Douro, Leixões and Viana do Castelo (APDL), João Pedro Neves, argued that the current marina “is not well located”.
“The Leixões Marina has benefited from a fantastic sandbar that is the Barra de Leixões, which allows straightforward access for any less-experienced sailor to enter, but, in fact, it is not well located,” he noted.
As for the sailing schools, the official specified that the children who attend them cross paths with ships, tugboats, pilot boats and fishing boats and “this is not how things should be done”.
“Therefore, we are using this plan to correct this; it is not because it has always been this way that it must stay this way. If we are here and can improve, we have an obligation to improve,” he stressed.
João Neves stressed that the objective is “to put all the meat on the grill” and to obtain the maximum space that the port allows to give.
“There are 20 more hectares on the north side and 10 more hectares on the south side, therefore, we will, in fact, take advantage of the port without entering too much into the city’s space and still reach out to the sea,” he noted.
The documents submitted to the public consultation regarding the expansion of the north breakwater of the Port of Leixões indicated that “the widening of the embankment will entirely overlap with Marina Porto Atlântico and Berths B and C of the port’s oil terminal, rendering them inactive”.
According to the study, made public in December, the “relocation of the marina” was “being studied, with APDL predicting that it would occupy the basin next to the cruise terminal, where nautical infrastructures already exist”.
There was also underway “a recreational boating study to assess the need to supplement this area with another near the Port of Leixões, namely on the right bank of the Douro River, in the Cais do Ouro area”, and, “if necessary, the Afurada marina could accommodate some vessels”.
However, the structure on the seaward side of the south breakwater had not yet been mentioned.
In September, APDL had already said that it was “developing a study for offering more berthing places at a new location in the Port of Leixões,” therefore “it can be inferred that the response to recreational boating will be valued and increased”.
In August, an official APDL source told Lusa that the marina would be relocated to near the cruise terminal, “where infrastructures have been designed for this purpose for ten years”.
