Spanish ports boost special cargo to gain ground in Europe
Ro/Ro traffic and project cargoes are gaining ground in Spanish ports.
The logistics port offer is completed with nearly 125 km of docks and more than 300 cranes to handle all types of cargo.
46% of the goods moved by the Spanish ports have the European continent as their origin/destination.
05-06-2023 (Public Body Puertos del Estado). "Specialists in all things special". With this slogan, 20 Port Authorities, representing more than 94% of the national port traffics, will meet at Breakbulk Rotterdam at the 'Ports of Spain' booth, coordinated by Puertos del Estado (State Ports): A Coruña, Almería, Avilés, Bahia de Algeciras, Bahía de Cádiz, Barcelona, Bilbao, Cartagena, Castellón, Ceuta, Ferrol-San Cibrao, Gijón, Huelva, Las Palmas, Santander, Sta. Cruz de Tenerife, Seville, Tarragona, Valencia and Vigo. All of them with a common objective, to offer users top quality, with competitive facilities and services capable of handling any type of goods, with any origin/destination, and interconnected with the main Trans-European Transport Networks, and at the crossroads of the world's main maritime routes.
With more than 62 linear kilometres of quays dedicated to bulk cargo, 18 kilometres of quays dedicated to Ro/Ro traffic, and 45 kilometres of multi-use quays, served by more than 300 cranes, the offer of the Spanish port system, the main platform in Southern Europe, becomes one of the main attractions of this fair.
In fact, Spanish ports are receiving more and more orders for the transport of what has come to be known as "project cargo", i.e. goods of dimensions outside the usual sizes and weights that form part of large structures, and that must be handled in large spaces, with special cranes and highly qualified personnel. In addition, the port operators themselves are responsible for organising and coordinating all the transports involved in the logistics chain.
These types of goods, and some more sophisticated ones, such as wind blades, metallic structures, off-shore platforms, etc., are gaining relevance, and all of them have a place in our ports. This is why the main challenge and objective of the presence of Spanish ports and companies at this fair is to consolidate existing traffic and to try to attract new traffic, in particular transit and Ro/Ro traffic involving suitable facilities.
BreakBulk Europe is the most important trade trade fair for bulk cargo, project cargo logistics and Ro/Ro in Europe, with more than 600 exhibiting companies from over 120 countries and nearly 10,000 visitors. It is the perfect showcase for Spanish ports and port and logistics operators to show attendees the possibilities for handling and transporting any type of goods from Spain to any destination in the world.
DESTINATION: EUROPE
With more than 252 million tonnes moved in 2022 to/from a European country, Europe remains Spain's main market. Thus, of the 548 million tonnes of goods moved in the Spanish ports in 2022, more than 46% had a country in the European continent as origin/destination, 111 million, 20%, with America, and 103 million tonnes, 19%, with Africa, and 73 million, 13%, with Asia.In 2022, more than 94 million tonnes of solid bulk were moved through Spanish ports, with an increase of +7% compared to 2021, 182.6 million tonnes of liquid bulk (+10.8%), 83.6 million tonnes of conventional general cargo (+7.2%), 187.5 million tonnes of containerised cargo (-5.4%). Of this total, 147.4 million tonnes were transit cargo, and 71 million tonnes of Ro/Ro traffic (+8.6%). These data show the versatility of our ports to handle all types of goods and to offer multiple logistics solutions to users.