136.7 million tons of goods moved in the first quarter of the year

• Total traffic increased by 5.67% compared to 2021.
• Bulk goods, both solids and liquids, drive port traffic upward.

April 26, 2022 (Public Body Puertos del Estado). The 46 general interest ports of the State recorded a total traffic of 136,719,558 tons in the first three months of the year. This figure represents the second-best historical record for Spanish ports, surpassed only by the 139,757,946 tons moved in 2019, and represents an increase of 5.66% compared to the same period in 2021.

Most of this increase is due to the recovery of bulk goods, both solids and liquids, which grew by 14.1% and 11.4%, respectively. General cargo, although decreasing globally by 1.3%, experienced growth of 10.4% in the conventional section and a decrease of 5.6% in the containerized section.

Solid bulk, which with 22.4 million tons represents 16.8% of port traffic by form of presentation, has been the main driver of traffic growth. Products stockpiled in the early months of the year following the Russian aggression against Ukraine, such as cereals and their flours (4.1 million tons) that have grown by +70%, or non-metallic minerals (4.3 million) +21%, and even temporarily coal (3.4 million tons) +9.2%.

Liquid bulk, which with 44.3 million tons (+11.4%) represents 33.3% of goods, was particularly favored by the increase in natural gas (+69%), which exceeded 5.3 million tons, gasoline (+31.8%), and crude oil (+12.9%).

General cargo, with 66.4 million tons, represents 49.9% of the total goods by form of presentation, has seen its growth diminished by the decrease in containerized cargo (-5.6%), due to the behavior of the transit segment, but has seen how conventional cargo compensated for this decrease with an increase of +10.4% thanks to products such as wood and cork (+23.5%), food products (+2%), or common salt (+1.8%).

Roll-on/roll-off traffic, industrial vehicles loaded with goods that choose maritime transport to avoid certain land arcs, has exceeded 16.8 million tons, with an increase of 10.6%.

Container traffic, the most widespread format for the transport of general cargo, nearly 70% of such cargo travels in containers, has been slowed down. 4.2 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) have been moved, which has meant a reduction of 3.3% compared to the previous year, a behavior 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, now that mobility restrictions have been lifted. 3.9 million passengers were counted in the first three months of the year, a +121% compared to 2021, of which 810,340 were cruise passengers."