Spanish ports moved 274 million tonnes in the first half of the year

Cruise passenger traffic soars 87% and confirms recovery after the pandemic.

26-07-2023 (State Ports Public Body). Total traffic at the ports that make up the state-owned system between January and June reached 274 million tonnes, a decline of 3.9% compared to the same period in 2022.

The good performance of solid bulk, which grew by 2.1% to 47.26 million tonnes - largely due to the increase in coal (25.5%) and cereals (40%) - was not enough to offset the decline in liquid bulk (-3.9%) and general merchandise (-5.8%).

Conventional general cargo in the port system increased by 0.4%, resisting mainly due to the good performance of vehicles under the cargo regime (+34.3%), consolidating the strength of ports such as Barcelona, Vigo and Valencia in this type of traffic.

On the other hand, the traffic of general goods in containers contracted by -8.5%, which is mainly explained by the trend, worldwide, of relocation of activities towards local logistics and the contraction of the demand for goods due to the macroeconomic situation.

Passenger traffic continues to grow at a very good pace. In the first half of 2023, the number of passengers arriving at our ports aboard a cruise ship was 4.94 million, representing an increase of 87.1% compared to the same period in 2022; As for regular line passengers, the increase was 21.2%, to 10.7 million, due to the start of Operation Crossing the Strait.

These figures confirm the full recovery of passenger traffic after the pandemic, even surpassing the record figures of 2019 when in the same period the figure was 4.7 million cruise passengers.