Total port traffic exceeds 185.2 million tons in the first quarter of the year

• Port total traffic grows by 5.9% compared to 2021
• Liquid bulk, with over 60 million tons, reaches a new historical high

May 23, 2022 (Public Body Ports of the State). The total traffic of the 46 general interest ports of the State, coordinated by Ports of the State, reached 185,253,757 tons in the first four months of 2022, representing an increase of 5.92% compared to the same period last year. With these figures, historical highs achieved in 2019, when 186.2 million tons were reached, are almost reached, with a difference of just 957 thousand tons (-0.5%).

In terms of presentation, liquid bulk, with 60,047,994, grew by 12.9%, setting a new historical record. In this group, natural gas, with over 7.5 million tons, grew by +73.5%, gasoline (5.4 million) +30%, and crude oil (20.7 million) +14%.

Solid bulk, which grew by +12.5%, exceeded 30.2 million tons, with a particularly significant increase in cereals and their flours (+59.3%) with nearly 5 million tons, coal and petroleum coke (+34.1%) with 5.5 million, and 5.6 million tons of non-metallic minerals (+15%).

Finally, general cargo, the largest group with over 90 million tons, is still -1.2% below the 2021 data, although conventional general cargo (27.2 million tons) has grown by +9.7%, surpassing pre-pandemic figures. Contributing to this increase are products such as wood and cork (+24.6%) or wines, beverages, alcohols, and derivatives (+13%).

Ro-ro traffic, industrial vehicles loaded with goods that are shipped, continues to grow at a rate of +10.7% compared to the previous year, surpassing 22.8 million tons, and more than +6% compared to 2019 data. This increase has been particularly noticeable in the number of trailers and platforms shipped, reaching 448,578 units.

Container traffic, counted in TEUs, has decreased by -2.9%, standing at 5.66 million TEUs. The biggest decrease has occurred in transit containers (-5.2%), accounting for nearly 54% of the moved containers.

Lastly, passenger traffic continues to recover, with a +147% increase in the total, exceeding 6.1 million passengers. This percentage was much higher in cruise passenger traffic, which with 1.4 million passengers grows by +718%, although it still represents 50% of the 2019 figure, when 2.8 million cruise passengers were recorded by this time. This is due to the fact that, despite the good performance in the number of cruise ship calls, 20% more than in 2019 (1,355 calls in the first four months), the ships still did not have 100% passenger occupancy levels, due to health reasons."