With a 3.5% increase compared to the same period of the previous year
Port traffic surpasses 140 million tons for the first quarter of the year
- Traffic of all types of goods has increased, especially that of general goods (+5.9%) and RORO traffic (+10.5%).
- Passenger traffic surpasses 6 million people, driven by a sharp rise in cruise passengers (+8.95%).
05-07-2019 (Ministry of Civil Works). Traffic of goods through the 46 State-owned ports of general interest managed by 28 Port Authorities under the coordination of State-owned company Puertos del Estado has reached 140,494,899 tons for the first quarter of the year, signifying a 3.55% increase compared to the same period of the previous year. While traffic has risen for goods in all packaging forms, it was particularly significant for conventional general goods (+9.1%) and, to a lesser extent, for general goods in containers (+4.6%), leading to general goods as a whole surpassing 67.5 million tons (+5.9%). With 45.2 million tons, liquid bulk cargo grew +1.6% while solid bulk cargo increased +0.5% with 24.5 million tons.
Transit goods (i.e. goods passing through Spanish ports before being distributed to other countries) surpassed 37.3 million tons, increasing by 5.65%. This confirms the preference of many shipping companies for using Spanish port enclaves as distribution hubs for connections between continents.
Maritime transport of industrial vehicles loaded with goods, known as RORO traffic, keeps gaining followers in distribution chains. So much so, that a quarter of general goods (i.e. 16.3 million tons) were shipped as RoRo cargo, marking an increase of 10.47%.
In addition, TEU container traffic (measured in TEUs = 20-foot containers), the most common way to ship general goods, surpassed 4.2 million TEUs, increasing by 5.5%.
Lastly, total passenger traffic surpassed 6 million passengers, out of which 4.2 million used regular services while 1.79 million took cruises. It was precisely this increase in cruise passenger traffic (+8.95%) that lead to an overall rise in passenger traffic of 4.76%.
