Spain’s state-owned ports handled more than 465 million tonnes of cargo through October
• Container traffic (TEUs) increased by 2.4% through October, with an 8.3% rise in import-export containers, confirming the upward trend in this segment and the importance of ports in Spain’s foreign trade.
• Spanish ports exceeded 36.8 million passenger movements.
25-11-2025 (Puertos del Estado). Spain’s state-owned ports handled 465,120,751 tonnes of cargo through October 2025, representing a 0.7% decrease compared with the same period last year, according to provisional data. Although cargo traffic remains below 2024 levels due to global uncertainty, October shows a slight recovery, with a 0.7% decline following the 1.7% drop in September—and far from the sharper decreases recorded in spring and summer (-2.9% in May, -3.1% in June, and -2.3% in July and August). This improvement is driven by strong performance in general non-containerised cargo and a modest recovery in liquid bulk.
General cargo recorded a 0.2% decrease in the first ten months of the year, reaching 234.2 million tonnes. Within this category, conventional general cargo grew by 3.8%, totalling 74.5 million tonnes, while containerised cargo fell by 2% (159.6 million tonnes) compared to the same period last year.
TEU traffic increased by 2.4%, surpassing 15.6 million units through October. The downward trend in transhipment TEUs (-1.4%) continues, although more moderately than in previous months, while import-export TEUs continue to rise (+8.3%) in Spanish ports.
Liquid bulk traffic broke its downward trend in October with a 0.2% increase, reaching nearly 150 million tonnes, driven by the recovery of gasoline, natural gas and chemical products. Dry bulk cargo fell by 4.5% year-on-year, with a cumulative total of 67.7 million tonnes.
Ro-ro traffic grew by 3%, reaching nearly 63 million tonnes.
The number of merchant vessels calling at Spanish ports fell by 2.3% compared with the first ten months of the previous year, totalling 138,239 vessels, while gross tonnage increased by 1%.
Passenger traffic rose by 4.8% through October compared with the same period in 2024, surpassing 36.8 million movements.