24/02/2023

44,2 millones de toneladas movidas durante el mes de enero

44.2 million tons moved during the month of January

Solid bulk cargo decreases by -0.1%, liquids by -2.6%, and general cargo by -9.1%.
Passenger traffic (+66%) gradually returns to normal.

24-02-2023 (Public Body Puertos del Estado). Although the year 2022 ended with an increase of 3.5% compared to the previous year, already since August of last year, in line with the global trade behavior, there has been a slight deceleration in the evolution of traffic, which reached its peak in July with an increase of 7.4%, driven by the rise in bulk cargo, especially solid bulk, but already showing signs of a decline in general containerized cargo.

The 44,205,139 tons moved during January 2023 show, depending on the presentation, that this decline in traffic has unevenly affected different types of goods. While solid bulk, with 8.2 million tons, decreased by -0.1%, liquid bulk, with 14.8 million, decreased by -2.6%, and general cargo, with 20.2 million tons, decreased by -9.1%, especially containerized general cargo, which fell by -13.4%, while conventional general cargo increased by +1.8% to exceed 6.4 million tons.

By type of goods, the increase in the handling of coal and petroleum coke (+112%) and soybeans (+75%) has minimized the decline in solid bulk. On the contrary, declines in the movement of chemicals (-37%) and petroleum and diesel (-5%) have led to the fall in liquid bulk. Similarly, general cargo has been particularly affected by declines in steel products (-21%), construction materials (-20%), and chemicals (-13%).

Positive data has come from passenger traffic, which, with more than 2 million passengers, has grown by 66%, a much more pronounced increase in cruise arrivals (+136%) although interestingly the number of cruise ships has decreased by 14%, indicating that the return to normalcy after the pandemic is causing cruise ships to reach their maximum occupancy in terms of the number of passengers.

Similarly, the total number of vessels passing through the 46 ports of general interest, 11,630 ships, increased by +4.3%.