Spanish ports moved 500 million tons until November, and the moderation in the decline of traffic is confirmed

• Passengers, both from cruises and regular lines, maintain the upward trend, with 36.7 million, 19.6% more than between January and November 2022.
• Cruise passengers already exceed the record figure of 2019, one month before the end of the year, with 11.2 million.

December 22, 2023 (Public Body Puertos del Estado). General interest ports moved 500,044,940 tons between January and November 2023, which represents a 3% decrease compared to the same period last year, and confirms the moderation of the downward trend in traffic, which was already recorded in October.

Although movements in the state-owned port system continue to reflect international tensions, to which has been added the situation of insecurity in the Red Sea that forces shipping companies to change routes, the declines in traffic are smaller than in previous months. General cargo contracted by 3.2% compared to the same period last year (compared to 4.5% in October) to 241.9 million tons, due to the decrease in containerized cargo (-5.3%) -far from the falls registered in September (-8.2%) or October (-7%)-, and with an increase in conventional general cargo of 1.6%. The good performance of vehicles, which as cargo increased by 23.6%, up to 3.5 million, is again behind this growth, but also by cereals, which as both general cargo (+48.2%) and solid bulk (+39.8%) have experienced strong rebounds.

In TEUs, the declines are once again more limited than in previous months. Thus, in the period until November, the movement of containers through Spanish ports reached 15,027,706 TEUs, 5.2% less than in the same period of the previous year, compared to the 6.7% decrease recorded in October compared to 2022. Only in the month of November, 1.37 million TEUs were moved, above the November 2022 data (1.23 mill).

Solid bulk recorded a decrease of 2.3% until November, reaching 83.6 million tons. Regarding liquid bulk, they decreased by 2.9% between January and November to 160.6 million tons, and with a slight increase in November compared to the same month in 2022, with a new rebound in diesel fuel (+15.6%). Ro-ro traffic grew by 1.5% to 66.5 million tons.

The number of merchant ships in Spanish ports increased by 4.8% compared to the first eleven months of 2022, with a total of 152,078 units, and gross tonnage increased by 6.3%.

Passenger traffic continues its upward trend. In total, 36.7 million people passed through Spanish ports between January and November, 19.6% more than in the same months of the previous year.

As expected, the number of cruise passengers has exceeded the absolute record set in 2019 (10.6 million) in 2023, even with one month left to close the year. Between January and November, cruise passengers reached 11.2 million, 49.7% more than in the same period of 2022.