Cargo movement through ports exceeds 472 million tons until October

Solid bulk (+10.5%) and liquid bulk (+7%) maintain the pace of port traffic growth.

25-11-2022 (Public Body Puertos del Estado). The 46 general interest ports of the State, managed by 28 Port Authorities and coordinated by Puertos del Estado, moved 472,828,187 tons between January and October 2022, representing an increase of 4.56% compared to the same period of the previous year. The year-on-year traffic, from November 2021 to October 2022, stands at 564.8 million tons, which, if this trend continues, would surpass the historical record achieved in 2019.

Changes in logistics and distribution chains due to the Ukraine war, among other factors, have caused transit cargo traffic to decrease by nearly -1.3%, a figure that increases to -5% in the case of container transit cargo. Nevertheless, given the good performance of import-export traffic, the forecast is still to conclude the year 2022 with figures similar to 2019.

In terms of presentation, in general cargo, which is the largest group with 230.2 million tons, the increase in the movement of wood and cork (+15%) and food products (+25%) stands out. The decrease in containerized cargo movement (-3.3%) has been offset by an increase (+8.7%) in conventional cargo traffic.

The second-largest group, liquid bulk, with 151.4 million tons, increased by +7%, with natural gas as the star product, experiencing a rise of +46.4%, reaching 18.4 million tons, and crude oil, which grew by +14% to reach 53.8 million tons.

Finally, solid bulk, with 78.2 million tons, grew by +10.5%, driven by the increase in coal movement (+63%), which exceeded 15.3 million tons, and cereals and their flours (+41%) with more than 13 million tons.

Ro-ro traffic, which represents about 13% of port traffic, exceeded 59.6 million tons, with a growth of 15.5% compared to the previous year.

On the other hand, container traffic, with 14.59 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units), increased by 1.1%, mainly due to national traffic (+6.2%) and import/export (+1.3%), as transit traffic, as explained earlier, decreased by -4.2% compared to the previous year.

Passenger traffic continues its upward trajectory, with 28.3 million passengers (regular lines and cruises), growing by +93.8% compared to 2021, although in the case of cruise passenger movement, this increase rises to +349%, surpassing 6.57 million passengers.

Finally, the movement of vessels through the general interest ports reached 132,899 units, with an increase of +13.8% compared to the previous year.