The port businessman Francisco Santana Rivero dies
Fransari was key in the fishing business as a shipping agent for the Japanese fleet
The port world lost one of its leading businessmen this Sunday, especially in the consignment and fishing sector:
Francisco Santana Rivero passed away at the age of 88whose name and initials shaped the Fransari currency.
The Japanese fleet, which was one of the most important in the sector in the Port of La Luz, had Fransari as its reference consignee.
Man of great business vision,
He always worked to promote not only his business group but also Puerto de la Luz and Las Palmas. Proof of this is that one of the port pontoons bears the name of Fransari. It was in 2005 when that tribute was paid to him, an act that valued his contribution to the port business. And the high esteem in which the businessmen of the sector had him. There, along with the honoree and his family, were, among others, Germán Suárez (RIP), Caridad Cuyás, Juan Manuel Freire and José Juan Rodríguez Castillo. Men and women who, like Francisco Santana Rivero, overcame adversity, allowed themselves to be guided by their instinct as entrepreneurs and understood that a business such as the port needed both to attract fleets from other destinations and to have companies here that offered the necessary services.
The growth of Francisco Santana Rivero's company, which was one of the most important in the Port in the last 20 years of the 20th century, was largely due to the
Japan Tuna Fisheries Cooperative Association), when the Japanese ships made La Luz one of their base operations ports around the world and Fransari was in charge of their consignment.
In this sense, it should be remembered that, during the last 60 years, the Japanese fleet has called at the port of the capital of Gran Canaria and made La Luz its main base in the Atlantic during the months of April-May and September-October, between the fishing trips that take place in the North Atlantic, Mediterranean and South Atlantic, to unload the
fishing, supplies and repairaccording to the Port Authority.
In 1997 Fransari expanded facilities to meet the demand of its wide and varied clientele. However, over the years, the weight of La Luz in the activity of the Japanese fleet decreased and, although there is still a link and activity today, the figures are not comparable with those of the 70s of the 20th century, when fishing was the main activity of the port and Fransari shone brightly. Thus, before covid, between 2014 and 2019, according to data from the Port Authority, it went from 62 to 101 operations and from handling 4,045 tons of fishing in 2014 to 20,368 tons last year, practically symbolic figures compared to the past .
With the reduction in the activity of the Japanese fleet in the port, Fransari limited its activity, until it closed, as happened with other shipping agents that served Japanese companies. This was the case, for example, of Ecopesa, Frucasa, Mavacasa, Cirsa and Guillermo Brito Almeida, which today form part of the history of Las Palmas, with Fransari in a prominent place.
In the building where Fransari was, in the middle of the port area,
the terminal of the shipping company Fred Olsen is now locatedalthough the name of this important consignee of La Luz lives on in the pontoon that bears his name and which is one of the main docking lines of the port.
The current president of the Port Authority of Las Palmas, Luis Ibarra, stated, after hearing the news of the death, that Francisco Santana
He was «a Canarian deeply in love with his port and his Isleta. He started working at the Port of La Luz and Las Palmas as a supplier and consignee at a young age, he was a pioneer with the Japanese fleets and one of the first to understand the relevance of the frozen market for this port. When he retired he was awarded one of the Port Foundation's prizes.
Among those who knew him and dealt with him for years is the former president of the Parliament and of the Cabildo of Gran Canaria, currently a councilor of the island corporation, José Miguel Bravo de Laguna, who recalled this Sunday the worth of Francisco Santana Rivero as a businessman and as a person.
“I had the great satisfaction,” said Bravo de Laguna, “of being Fransari's legal advisor for more than 30 years. And the truth is that
He was the typical example of a businessman from Gran Canaria, a tireless fighter, always positive, always trying to capture the best for the Port, such as the Japan Tuna, and the truth is that it was an extraordinary promoter of ship provisioning. My memories of him are extraordinary, because he was a businessman who came out of nowhere and knew how to create a very important group, with a lot of activity and with many workers, contributing a lot to the economic and social development of the Canary Islands. I was moved to learn that he has passed away. He was a great person».
CANARIAS7 expressly expresses its deepest condolences and conveys condolences to family and loved ones for such a painful loss.
Rest in peace.