Port of Alicante 4.96

The Port of Alicante is a seaport in Alicante, Spain on the Mediterranean Sea used for commercial and passenger traffic. The port is administered by the Port Authority of Alicante.HistoryThe port has been reinventing itself since the industrial decline the city suffered in the 1980s (with most mercantile traffic lost in favour of Valencia's harbour). In recent years, the Port Authority has established it as one of the most important ports in Spain for cruises, with 72 calls to port made by cruises in 2007, bringing some 80,000 cruise passengers and 30,000 crew to the city each year.The 1990s marked possibly the greatest changes in the modern history of the port of Alicante. The Special Plan for the Port ('PEP' in Spanish) of 1992 allowed the port to plan an expansion towards the south, and made provisions for converting some of the quayside into a zone of seafood restaurants, an extensive promenade with modern bars and nightclubs open until dawn. To reduce the visual impact on the coastline, integrating the port better with the city, and thus complying with local and European planning laws which now prohibit the construction of buildings (especially tall buildings) next to the coast, the PEP made provision for a maximum height of 12m for buildings in the port area, leaving the possibility for certain structures (such as cranes) to exceed this height only if the necessity is proven.