Balearic Government launches internet site for booking temporary moorings

Joan Collins THE Balearic Ministry for Public Works yesterday launched an internet service for the reservation of temporary moorings, through which sailors will be able to book 60 of the 200 temporary moorings managed by the Balearic Government, which is some 30 percent of the total. The Balearic Minister for Public Works, Mabel Cabrer, said she considered this service as “a good and useful information tool”, to which both Balearic residents and visitors to the islands could go. She announced that the current Summer season will serve as the “adaptation” period. Cabrer said that the existing system, which consists of boats getting a temporary mooring as they arrive, will be kept during this Summer. She added that next year there will probably be some places kept back for those boats which arrive at a port without their owners having made a reservation over the internet. Cabrer said that, as has happened up to now, every boat will be able to stay a maximum of three days on a temporary mooring. However, she underlined the fact that they will not be able to make successive reservations in order to prolong their stay in the port. Reservations for temporary moorings via the internet will only be able to be made up to three days before the date required. The application form will have to have the identity of the owner or captain of the boat, along with the boat's name, registration number and other characteristics. The Minister explained that the reservation will be confirmed once payment for the stay has been made over the internet and the substitution of boats would not be allowed. The Ministry will offer this system, which Cabrer described as “convenient and of quality” and “pioneering in Spain”, to privately managed ports so that they can offer their services through the same Government webpage. This service is included in a new internet portal which, in addition, will collect information about the facilities in the ports in the islands and the actions taking place in different areas. Also, the site has a map of the archipelago on which it is possible to locate ports and to ascertain the services each one offers. According to Cabrer, in this portal information will be published about public competitions and legal documentation. There will also be a three monthly informative bulletin which will be sent by email in PDF format to those users who wish to subscribe to it. From this portal it is also possible to navigate to other internet sites related to this sector and get up to date news or notices of events in this field.