The second best historical record, behind the 139.7 million reached in 2019
136.7 million tonnes of goods moved in the first quarter of the year
- Total traffic increases by 5.67% compared to 2021 data
- Bulks, both solid and liquid, push port traffic upwards.
26-04-2022 (Public body Puertos del Estado). The 46 ports of general interest in the State registered a total traffic of 136,719,558 tonnes in the accumulated of the first three months of the year. This data represents the second best historical record of the Spanish ports, only surpassed by the 139,757,946 tonnes moved in 2019, and represents an increase of 5.66% compared to the same period of 2021.
Most of this increase was due to the recovery of bulk, both solid and liquid, which grew by 14.1% and 11.4%, respectively. General goods, despite an overall decrease by 1.3%, experienced a growth of 10.4% in the conventional section, and a decrease of 5.6% in the containerised section.
Solid bulk, whose 22.4 million tonnes represent 16.8% of port traffic by presentation form, has been the main driver of traffic growth. Products collected in the first months of the year as a result of the Russian aggression against Ukraine, such as cereals and their flours (4.1 million tonnes) that have grown by +70%, non-metallic minerals (4.3 million) by +21%, and even circumstantially coal (3.4 million tonnes), by +9.2%.
Liquid bulk, whose 44.3 million tonnes (+11.4%) represent 33.3% of goods, was particularly favoured by the increase in natural gas (+69%), which exceeded 5.3 million tonnes, gasoline (+31.8%), and crude oil (+12.9%).
General goods, with 66.4 million tonnes, represents 49.9% of the total goods by form of presentation. Its growth has been reduced by the decrease in goods in containers (-5.6%), due to the performance of the transit segment, but nevertheless it has seen how conventional goods compensated for this decline with an increase of +10.4% thanks to products such as wood and cork (+23.5%), food products (+2%), or common salt (+1.8%).
Ro-ro traffic, industrial vehicles loaded with goods that choose maritime transport to avoid certain land routes, has exceeded 16.8 million tonnes, with an increase of 10.6%.
Container traffic, the most widespread format for the transport of general goods with about 70% of said goods travelling in containers, has slowed down. 4.2 million twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) containers have been moved, which has meant a reduction of 3.3% compared to the previous year, a performance marked by the transit segment, since the rest of the container (import- export and cabotage) has repeated 2021 figures (2 million TEUs).
Finally, passenger traffic is gradually returning to normal, once mobility restrictions have been lifted. 3.9 million passengers have been recorded in the first three months of the year, +121% compared to 2021, of which 810,340 were cruise passengers.