Port traffic surpasses 380 million tons in the first 8 months of the year

Liquid and solid bulk goods and conventional general cargo continue to grow at a rate of around +10%, compared to 2021. Passenger traffic is on the path to recovery with 21.9 million people (+112.9%) through Spanish ports.

26-09-2022 (Public Body Puertos del Estado). The 46 general interest ports of the State moved 380,154,713 tons during the first eight months of the year, representing a growth of +5.5% compared to the same period in 2021. In this way, 20 of the 28 Port Authorities experienced increases, highlighting passenger traffic, with a +112.9%, surpassing a total of 21.9 million people.

By the method of presenting goods, the three main groups, namely liquid bulk, solid bulk, and general cargo, experienced increases, which in the case of bulk goods were around +10%, offsetting the decline in general cargo in containers (-2.7%) with a total of 129.4 million tons. On this occasion, the growth of solids stood out (+10.6%) with 61.6 million tons, favored by the movement of coal and petroleum coke (+57.2%) with 11.5 million tons, and cereals and their flours (+31.7%) with 9 million tons. Liquid bulk recorded 122.8 million tons (+9.6%), favored mainly by the movement of natural gas (+56.3%), which exceeded 14.9 million tons, or crude oil (+15.6%), which reached 43.7 million tons.

General cargo exceeded 185.9 million tons (+0.7%), mainly driven by conventional general cargo, with more than 4.9 million tons (+9.6%), where the movement of ro-ro equipment tares (+21.7%), woods and cork (+17.4%), and other minerals and metallic waste (+15%) stood out.

Ro-ro traffic (roll-on-roll-off) of rolling cargo transported on ships, whether vehicles, trucks, or trailers loaded with containers, grew by +11.5% with a total of more than 47.8 million tons.

Containers, counted in TEUs (20-foot containers), reached nearly 11.8 million, of which 6.1 million were in transit, 4.3 million were import/export, and 1.4 million were national entries-exits.

Passenger traffic continues to register the highest increases, with a total of 21.9 million people (+112.9%), of which 4.4 million (+676.3%) were cruise passengers.

Finally, merchant ship traffic continues to grow at a rate of +14.7% compared to the same period of the previous year, with 103,944 units moved through Spanish ports.