• Import-export containers exceed volumes of 2019 with 3.6 million TEUs.
26-08-2021 (Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda). The 46 ports of general interest of the State moved 45,993,026 tons in the month of July, which represents a growth of +8.8% compared to the same month in 2020. The accumulated amount during these first seven months of the year registered a total of 311,177,735 million tonnes and represented a growth of +5.3% when compared to the same period of the previous fiscal year.
What is of special note this month is the increase in import and export containers, which reached close to 13% up to July: with a cumulative total of 3.6 million TEUs, it already exceeds figures from 2019.
According to Francisco Toledo, the president of Puertos del Estado, the positive figures for import-export containers compared to 2019 are indicative of a positive trend for the recovery of pre-pandemic traffic and reflect the strength of the Spanish port system.
By type of goods and form of presentation, all types experienced growth, except liquid bulk. The largest group, general goods, reached an accumulated traffic level of 161.4 million tonnes with a growth level of +9.4% when compared to the same period of the previous year. In this group, the +25.6% increase in construction material stands out; machinery, appliances, tools and spare parts at +20.3%; steel products, +16.3%; and chemical products at +3.9%.
Up to July, liquid bulk totals accumulated a volume of 95.6 million tonnes, which had a decrease of -4.3% when compared to 2020. This is due mainly to falls in goods such as natural gas with a decrease of -16.5% or crude oil of -3.4%.
Solid bulks increased by +12.4% up to July with a turnover of 47.6 million tonnes. Despite the decrease of -17.3% in coal this year, it is offset by the increase in other traffic, such as iron ore at 80.2%, cement and clinker at 26.9%, or feed and forage at 7.9%.
Container traffic grew by +9.6% up to July, with a cumulative level of 10.3 million TEUs, a number that is practically equal to the volume of 2019. The growth of roll-on/roll-off traffic also stands out at levels of +14.5% and 37.6 million tonnes up to July. This is also the case with automobile traffic, both in terms of passengers at +10.5% and merchandise +13.3%.
Despite the fact that total passenger traffic continues to decline with a decrease of -5.6% up to July due to the scarcity of cruise activity and the cancellation of Operation Strait Passage, this decrease has been considerably mitigated this month when compared with that of the previous month (-16.1%) due to the lifting of the ban on international cruise traffic of 7 June.
For more information:
http://www.puertos.es/es-es/estadisticas/Paginas/estadistica_mensual.aspx
