The Balearic Government has opened a preliminary investigation to establish whether Grupo MSC Baleares, which holds the concession for the boatyard at the port of Ciutadella, has allowed boat rental companies to board their customers from the yard's floating pontoon. Juan Manuel Lafuente, the regional minister for the Sea and Water Cycle and chairman of PortsIB, now acknowledges that the concession does not cover that activity, after the port authority had accepted it in May.
According to Lafuente's written answer to questions from Socialist MP Pilar Carbonero in the Balearic Parliament, first reported by the newspaper Menorca, the pontoon was authorised on 22 July 2025 to make it easier to install and operate the boatyard's haul-out carriage. Boats may only stay moored for as long as it takes to lift them out or launch them, not to pick up or drop off customers, and the concession cannot be transferred, in whole or in part, to third parties. If the investigation confirms an administrative offence, PortsIB will open disciplinary proceedings which, depending on how serious it is, could end with the concession being terminated.
It is a notable change of position. In May, when the same newspaper reported that several rental boats were mooring at the pontoon every day, PortsIB said it was not reserved for rentals but there to support the boatyard, that boats going out with customers could use it, and that it would only open proceedings if it found permanent moorings or berths being rented out. According to Menorca, the concession's terms expressly prohibit boat rental activities.
The dispute comes while the boatyard is still unfinished. PortsIB granted the concession in February 2023, for twenty years and an annual fee of 101,000 euros, to what was then Marina Seca Port de Ciutadella, now Grupo MSC Baleares. Three years on, the haul-out carriage meant to lift boats over 25 tonnes out of the water has still not been installed, which the Government itself admits is outstanding. The metal walkway that rental customers use to reach the pontoon also takes up part of the slipway, and in the meantime the crane can only handle boats of up to 25 tonnes.
Then there is the state of the company. According to Gaceta Náutica, a commercial court in Palma has placed Grupo MSC Baleares into compulsory insolvency proceedings, so the facility is now run under a court-appointed administrator. The same outlet notes that many of the boats leaving from the pontoon were rented out without a licence, something that stopped being allowed in Spain on 1 October.
Sources: Menorca (09/10/2026, 02/08/2026 and 21/05/2026), Gaceta Náutica (09/10/2026) and BOIB (notice of the concession award, 2023).