​By September, State-owned ports had moved 428 million tons

• Port traffic registers a 2.2% increase during the first nine months of the year

11-06-2019 (Ministry of Development). The 46 State-owned general interest ports moved 428,124,835 tons during the first nine months of 2019, representing a 2.2% increase over the same period the previous year. Except for solid bulk, which fell by 8.5% mainly due to a decrease in coal and petroleum coke, all other main headings have registered an increase. Thus, liquid bulk increased by 5.8%, general cargo by 4%, ro-ro traffic by 5.8%, container traffic by 4%, total passenger traffic by 4.1% and cruise passengers by 4.9%.

As for total traffic, the Port Authority of Bahía de Algeciras has exceeded 82.8 million tons, followed by Valencia with 61.6 million, Barcelona with 51.9 million and Bilbao with 26.5 million tons. The greatest increase was registered by the Port Authorities of Málaga (+20.1%), Santander (+14%), Vilagarcía de Arousa (+13.2%) and Bahía de Cádiz (+12.7%).

Cargo in transit, totaling 117.9 million tons and a 7.6% increase, represented 28.2% of the total amount moved by Spanish ports, most of which was concentrated in the ports of Bahía de Algeciras, Valencia, Barcelona and Las Palmas. This traffic confirms the relevance of Spanish ports in global logistics chains which, along with their excellent geographical position, facilities and range of services, are still attracting cargo en route to third countries.

Likewise, ro-ro traffic, industrial vehicles loaded with cargo that choose transportation by sea to avoid long distances by road, is still growing to nearly 50 million tons.

Containers (measured in TEUs, 20-feet containers) are the most popular means of transport for general cargo, 71.3%, i.e. more than 148 million tons travelled in containers, exceeding 13.2 million TEUs, with a 4% increase.

Finally, passenger traffic, with more than 21.8 million persons using regular lines linking mainland Spain to the islands and the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla and inter-island lines, has grown 3.8%, whereas cruise passenger traffic, with over 7.7 million passengers, grew by almost 5%.