Costa Cruises is to develop a dedicated terminal in the major Spanish cruise port of Barcelona.
The Italian line is to invest euros 8 million in the facility which will become operational in summer 2006.
The terminal will be available for Costa and other lines in the Carnival Corporation family.
Costa handled 215,000 passengers through 96 calls to Barcelona last year, a 33% rise on 2003’s levels. All Carnival brands accounted for 200 calls in Barcelona in 2004, accounting for 346,000 passengers.
Costa expects to increase to 128 the number stops in Barcelona by its ships this year, representing 335,000 passengers.
The line will build and manage the terminal as part of a 25 year concession by the Port of Barcelona.
Report by Phil Davies
