PORT OF MALAGA

The Port of Málaga is an international seaport located in the city of Málaga in southern Spain, on the Costa del Sol coast of the Mediterranean. It is the oldest continuously-operated port in Spain and one of the oldest in the Mediterranean.

Principal port activities include cruise shipping and the importation of containerised manufactured products, break bulk and vehicles. A small fishing fleet also operates from the port.

Ancient and medieval times[edit]
The Port of Malaka was founded by Phoenicians from Tyre in around 1000 BC. The name Malaka is probably derived from the Phoenician word for salt because fish was salted on the first dock; in other Semitic languages the word for salt is still Hebrew מלח mélaḥ or Arabic ملح milḥ. This first dock was a single waterfront quay parallel to the shore and extending for about 500 metres from the customs house to the Puerta Oscura.

By Roman times Malaka had become an important export port for minerals, pottery, almonds, wine and oil. An Iberian delicacy was fish prepared with garum, large quantities of which were also exported to Rome.

Trade continued to grow, peaking when Malaka (now Mālaqah (Arabic مالقة) was declared the capital of the Islamic kingdom of Granada. When the kingdom passed into Catholic control in 1487 the port assumed a strategic importance as an embarkation point for Spanish soldiers in the conquest of the Rif, Melilla, Peñon de Velez and Oran, and was renamed the Port of Málaga.

Between 1900 and 1910 an extensive reconstruction of port facilities resulted in the modernization of the existing quays and the completion of the current passenger terminal. The Málaga-Puertollano oil pipeline was completed by 1920, permitting oil exports directly from the port.

After the Second World War the importance of the port declined as new ports opened in North Africa and the Middle East, and post-war reconstruction led to the massive expansion of facilities at Port of Rotterdam and elsewhere. The Puertotollano pipeline ceased operation in the 1990s. Port operations were concentrated around ten wharves on the southern border of the existing port. The northern and central port areas were then progressively returned to the control of the city and converted for residential use.



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