Funciones APAC - Autoridad Portuaria de A Coruña

Competences of the Port Authority of A Coruña

The Port Authorities have the following competences:

The provision of general services, such as the management and control of port services to ensure that they are provided with the greatest efficiency, economy, productivity and safety, without prejudice to the power of other bodies.
The organisation of the port’s service area and port users, in coordination with the Public Administrations with powers over land and urban planning.
The planning, design, construction and exploitation of the port’s works and services, and the maritime signage with which they have been entrusted, subject to the provisions of the law.
The management of the port’s public domain and the maritime signage assigned to them.
The optimisation of the financial management and profitability of the assets and resources assigned to them.
The promotion of industrial and commercial activities related with maritime or port traffic.
The coordination of the operations of the different modes of transport within the port area.
The organisation and coordination of port traffic, both maritime and land traffic.

Duties of the Port Authority of A Coruña

Port Authorities have the following duties:

To approve the proposed operating budgets and capital of the Port Authority and its multi-annual action plan.
To manage the general and maritime signage services and to authorise and control port services and the operations and activities that require its authorisation or permission.
To coordinate the actions of the different government bodies and entities controlled by it that engage in their activities in the port, except when this duty is expressly assigned to other Authorities.
To organise the uses of the port’s service area, and to plan and schedule them in accordance with approved land and urban planning instruments.
To draw up and formulate special plans for the layout of the port’s service area pursuant to the general city plan.
To design and build the works required under the approved plans and programmes.
To draw up, where appropriate, target plans with a horizon of more than four years, in accordance with the provisions of section 18.1.a).
To approve the investment projects that are included in the approved plan and the expenditure corresponding to these investments, and to contract their execution.
To report on the draft Port Operation and Police Regulation, and to draw up and approve the corresponding Port Ordinances for the procedures and requirements set out in section 295, and to ensure compliance with them.
To monitor, in relation to the port, compliance with the regulations that affect the admittance, handling and storage of hazardous substances, the security systems and those for protection against terrorist and antisocial actions, fire-fighting and emergency control in the terms set out in the civil protection regulations, and to combat marine pollution, without prejudice to the powers that correspond to other government service bodies with powers over civil protection, fire prevention and fighting, and rescue.
To approve freely the fees for the commercial services provided, and to apply and collect them.
To award concessions and permits and to keep up to date the censuses and records the uses of the port’s public domain. In addition, to grant port service provision permits for the port’s service area.
To collect the fees for the concessions and permits granted, to ensure compliance with the clauses and conditions imposed when they are granted, to apply the penalty system and to adopt whatever measures are necessary to protect and properly manage the port’s public domain.
To promote the training of its staff and to undertake studies and investigations into matters relating to port activity and environmental protection, and to cooperate with other ports, organisation or companies, both domestic and foreign.
To inspect the operation of the maritime signage, whose control it is assigned, in the ports that come under the Autonomous Regions, reporting to them, as the body responsible for their operation and maintenance, any problems identified in order for them to be corrected.
To manage its international trade policy, without prejudice to the powers intrinsic to the Ministries of Economy and Finance, and Foreign Affairs and Cooperation.
To authorise participation in companies by the Port Authority and the acquisition and divestment of their shares, when the total commitments contracted do not exceed one per cent of the current assets of the Port Authority and provided that these operations do not involve the acquisition or loss of its majority share.
The agreement of the Board of Directors must have a majority of votes in favour from the representatives of the General State Administration present or represented, and, in all cases, the vote in favour of the representative of Puertos del Estado is required.
The installation and maintenance of the signage, beacon system and other navigation aids that assist ships to approach and access the port or ports that they manage, in addition to the internal beacon system for the common areas. The installation and maintenance of the signage and other navigation aids under concession or licence, including those for marine aquaculture and submarine outfalls, or other installations located in the marine environment that could represent an obstacle to navigation are excluded and will be performed by the owner or those responsible for them.
To promote adequate intermodality by land and sea in the port infrastructure and services, with an efficient and safe road and rail network, properly linked to the rest of the transport system and with logistical hubs that can be considered of general interest.
To administer the rail infrastructure that it owns by facilitating adequate intermodality by land and sea.
To gather information on the services provided and the activities taking place in the service areas of the ports that they manage.

As part of the duties in the area of works planning, design and construction, management of the public domain through concessions and permits, and the regulation and control of port traffic, the promotion of industrial and commercial activities, fees and their application, and the coordination of operations using the different modes of transport inside the port, the Port Authorities must supply Puertos del Estado with the information that it requests.

Powers of the Board of Directors

The Board of Directors has the following duties:

To govern and administer the port, without prejudice to the powers that correspond to the Chairman.
To define the duties and responsibility of its different bodies and to grant to and withdraw general or special powers from certain persons, both physical and legal, regarding matters in which granting such powers is necessary.
To approve, at the initiative of the Chairman, the organisation of the body and changes to it.
To establish its management standards and internal operating rules, its financial system and the duties of the Secretary.
To approve the proposed operating budgets and capital of the Port Authority and its multi-annual action plan, and send them to Puertos del Estado for processing.
To approve the annual accounts, which will include the balance sheet, profit and loss account, the statement of changes in equity, cash flow statement, memorandum and, where appropriate, the proposed profit distribution, deciding on the percentage of the profits destined for setting up reserves, in the amount that is necessary for making investments and for operating in a suitable manner.
To authorise the entity’s investments and financial operations including founding and acquiring holdings in leading companies, subject to compliance with the necessary legal requirements.
To approve projects that involve the occupation of assets and acquisition of rights referred to in section 61 of this law, without prejudice to the technical approval of same by a qualified technician.
To perform the duties of policing ascribed to it by this law, and which are necessary to fulfil its purposes.
To set the annual management objectives, as part of the overall objectives established by Puertos del Estado for the entire system.
To propose asset and liability financial operations for which approval is required by Puertos del Estado, within the framework of the investment, financing and borrowing plans that the Government and Parliament approve for this Public Body.
To authorise loans for working capital financing.
To set the fees for the commercial services provided by the Port Authority.
To grant concessions and permits, in accordance with the criteria and General Conditions approved by the Ministry of Development, to collect the fees for the private or special use of the port’s public domain and for providing the maritime signage service.
To approve the resolutions, agreements, covenants and contracts that the Board itself decides must be within its competence, by reason of their importance or subject matter.
To decide what is appropriate regarding the execution of the actions and resources that correspond to the Port Authorities to defend their interests with the Publish Administrations and Law Courts of any type, level or jurisdiction. In the event of an emergency, this power may be exercised by the Chairman, who will make an immediate report on what was done at the next meeting of the Board of Administration.
To promote free competition and ensure that monopoly situations do not occur in the provision of the various port services.
To perform any management, disposal and administrative actions in regard to its own assets that it deems necessary.
To approve the Port Ordinances, subject to the provisions in section 295 of this law.
To exercise the other duties of the Port Authority set out in section 26 of this law that have not been assigned to other government or management bodies and are not included in the preceding paragraphs.