During the Second Industrial Revolution, iron ore was in great demand by the European industrial powers. Its export registered a strong expansion from the 1970s onwards, becoming the main merchandise exported, in terms of volume, by Spanish ports from 1870 onwards. Thus, between 1891 and 1900, some 60 million tonnes of iron ore were exported, accounting for 67% of total national exports.
Most of the ore exported during the 19th century was from Biscay, reaching its national total of 75% during the last two decades of the century. The rest of the ore was originated from Cantabria, Murcia and Almería. Great Britain, Germany and France were the main consumers of this mineral, with the British accounting for almost ¾ of it at the end of the 19th century.
The growing demand for iron ore led to an increase in its price and made it interesting to mine in deposits located in the interior of the peninsula, which until then had been inactive due to the high cost of transport. In 1889, a report on the feasibility of exploiting the Ojos Negros mines concluded that the cost at port could be 5 pesetas per tonne, with a breakdown of 1.52 pesetas for the ore and 0.015 pesetas per kilometre of transport.
In this context, on 7 August 1900, Ramón de la Sota y Llano and his cousin Eduardo Aznar de la Sota agreed, in Ojos Negros (Teruel), to lease the Sierra Menera mines to Echevarrieta and Larrinaga for 60 years. Therefore, on 3 September 1900, they set up Compañía Minera de Sierra Menerain Bilbao. This agreement includes the obligation to build a railway and a shipping port for the operation of the mines with a capacity of at least 500,000 tonnes per year. However, the ultimate goal was to create a new steel industry in the Mediterranean by building blast furnaces for iron smelting.
The cities of Valencia, Castellón, Burriana and Vinaroz fought for the wharf to be installed in their ports. Finally, the Sagunto beach was selected for its construction, as it was the best possible railway route.