Glossary, Links to Other Organizations and Contact

The definitions have been drafted based on the Consolidated Text of the Law on State Ports and the Merchant Navy (TRLPEMM, Royal Decree-Law 2/2011, of September 5), taking into account the contributions of the Statistics authorities of the Port Authorities and Puertos del Estado. They are grouped by themes.

PORTS, PORT AUTHORITIES, AND PORT SYSTEM

• Commercial Maritime Port: A set of land spaces, maritime waters, and facilities located on the seashore or estuaries that meet physical, natural or artificial, and organizational conditions allowing the performance of port traffic operations and commercial port activities (stevedoring, unloading, loading, transshipment, storage of goods, passenger traffic, and ship supplies and repairs). It is authorized by the competent Administration for these activities.
• Port Authority: A public body with legal personality and its own assets, as well as full capacity to act, dependent on the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility through Puertos del Estado. It administers, manages, and operates one or more ports under the jurisdiction of the General State Administration.
• Ports Managed by a Port Authority: Set of ports under the responsibility of a Port Authority. The data in the report apply to each of these, with a breakdown for the different ports forming the Port Authority, as well as an aggregate.
• Ports of Spain: Public body attached to the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility responsible for coordinating and controlling the efficiency of the state-owned port system.

CHARACTERISTICS OF PORTS

• Flotation Area: Refers to each of the port areas formed by the water surfaces where ships move within the port area. The first classification is based on the division into zones.
• Zone I: The water area inside the port waters, covering all sheltered spaces, whether naturally or by the effect of breakwaters.
• Zone II: The water area outside the port waters, covering the remaining waters not included in Zone I. The precise definition of these two zones is specified in the Delimitation of Port Spaces and Uses (Article 69 of TRLPEMM).
• Anchorage: Zone within Zone II designated for vessels to wait before entering the port.
• Entrance Channel: Deepest and cleanest part of a port entrance, leading to wider and deeper areas. Characterized by its orientation, width, length, depth, and nature of the bottom.
• Anteport: The advanced part of a port where ships wait to enter, are positioned to leave, or temporarily take shelter. Characterized as the space containing part of the entrance channel and the interior zone near the entrance that does not affect commercial docks.
• Dock: Sheltered maritime area located between docks.
• Quay: A structure to which ships can be moored, suitable for loading and unloading operations.
• Breakwater: Each of the external breakwaters that create sheltered waters for port operations.
• Berth: A specific area of a quay reserved for a particular type of traffic, with or without special facilities.
• Dry Dock: Facility that allows a ship to be taken out of the water for repairs.
• Shipyard: Facility for building ships.
• Ro-Ro Ramp: Incline area, usually at the ends of docks, designed for roll-on/roll-off traffic, allowing the movement of rolling vehicles between the dock and the ship.
• Lighthouses: Luminous signals with a nominal range exceeding 10 nautical miles.
• Beacons: Luminous signals with a range of less than 10 nautical miles.
• Public or Private Service: Exclusive alternative applied to docks, cranes, or installations, referring to who operates these elements. The first case occurs when the element is directly operated by the Port Authority, which is also the owner. In the second case, the element is leased to a private entity, in the case of docks or installations, or owned when referring to cranes.

TYPES OF OPERATIONS

• Embarkation or Loading: Type of port operation in which goods, containers, or people are loaded onto a vessel.
• Disembarkation or Unloading: Type of port operation in which goods, containers, or people are unloaded from a vessel and brought ashore.
• Transit: Type of maritime transfer operation in which goods or transport elements are unloaded from a ship to the dock and then reloaded onto another ship, either the same or a different one, within the port service area. This type of traffic generates two movements, one when unloading the goods and another when loading them, and both will be reflected in the statistics.
• Transshipment: Type of direct transfer operation of goods from one ship to another, without being deposited on the docks and with the simultaneous presence of both ships during the operation. It includes tares, if any. In this type of traffic, only the movement corresponding to unloading is reflected (by agreement).
• Ro-Ro Traffic: Roll-on/roll-off (ro-ro) traffic is considered when loading and unloading is done using wheeled means (trucks, trailers, platforms, etc.), with the type of dock or ship not being determinative.
• Intermodal Transport Unit (UTI): An intermodal transport unit is understood to be any equipment, self-propelled or not, suitable for the intermodal transport of goods. It will be accompanied if traveling with the driver. If they have wheels, they are called ro-ro UTIs.
• Lo-Lo Traffic: Lift-on/lift-off (lo-lo) traffic is considered when loading and unloading on the ship is done by lifting cranes, with the type of dock or ship not being determinative.

TYPES OF NAVIGATION

• Cabotage Navigation: Navigation that, not being inland, takes place between ports or points located in areas where Spain exercises sovereignty, sovereign rights, or jurisdiction.
• Exterior Navigation: Navigation that takes place between ports or points located in areas where Spain exercises sovereignty, sovereign rights, or jurisdiction, and ports or points located outside these areas.
• Inland Navigation: Navigation that takes place entirely within the scope of a specific port or other Spanish maritime inland waters. Spanish inland waters are those located inside the baseline of the territorial sea, including rivers, lakes, and continental waters. The baseline is stipulated in Royal Decree 2510/77 of August 5, 1977, BOE of September 30, 1977 (Ministry of Defense).

TYPES OF GOODS

• Port Traffic: Port traffic is understood as operations involving the entry, exit, mooring, unmooring, stay, and repair of ships in the port, as well as the transfer of goods of any kind (liquid bulk, solid bulk, and general cargo), fishing, supplies, and passengers or crew, as well as the temporary storage of these goods in the port area.
• Gross Weight of Goods: Tons of goods transported, including their packaging, but excluding the tares of containers or ro-ro units if used.
• Tares: Gross weight of transport elements (containers, trailers, platforms, etc.) in which goods are transported, excluding the goods.
• Liquid Bulk: Liquid bulk cargo is considered as that which is in a liquid state, unpackaged, and is also handled continuously, i.e., through pipelines and using pumping systems. This category also includes liquefied natural gas and molten solids transported at high temperatures. All of these are transported in tanks.
• Solid Bulk: Solid bulk cargo is considered as that which comes unpackaged or unboxed and consists of a set of loose solid particles that are also handled continuously, i.e., through a pipeline or by gravity or using blades. They will be considered "special installation solids" if specific loaders or unloaders are used, fixed conveyor belts, fixed pipelines, specific facilities for standardized operations, etc., generally of high capacity, and they are transported continuously without intermediate phases.
• General Cargo: General cargo is considered as that which, unlike bulk cargo, is packaged, wrapped, or can be counted by units. Additionally, it may be consolidated in containers. If not in containers, it is called conventional general cargo.
• Fishing: Refers to fresh caught, refrigerated fishing and its products, excluding frozen fishing, considered as general cargo.
• Provisioning: Provisioning operations refer to the supply of products such as water, fuel, fuels, lubricants, and other oils for the technical use of ships. Additionally, it includes the concept of supplying ships with products exclusively for the consumption of the crew and passengers, consumer products for domestic use, those intended for the feeding of transported animals, and consumables used for the preservation, treatment, and preparation of goods on board.
• Inland Traffic: Goods transported in inland navigation.

TRADE

• Imported Goods: Tons disembarked of goods (excluding transit, tares, and transshipment) whose country of origin is different from Spain, i.e., without considering the ship's navigation but the external origin of the goods.
• Exported Goods: Tons shipped of goods (excluding transit, tares, and transshipment) whose destination country is different from Spain, i.e., without considering the ship's navigation but the external destination of the goods.
• National Trade: Sum of tons disembarked and shipped of goods (excluding transit, tares, and transshipment), with origin and destination in Spain, i.e., without considering the ship's navigation but the national origin and destination of the goods.

CONTAINERS

• Container: A special box for transporting cargo, reinforced, stackable, durable, and reusable, which can be moved horizontally or vertically and used in various modes of transportation. They can be for general use or for a specific type of cargo (refrigerated, heated, etc.). There are different sizes, with ISO 20 feet, 40 feet being typical, between 20 and 40 feet, and over 40 feet. Less than 20 feet are not considered containers but as other general cargoes.
• TEU (Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit): A unit equivalent to an ISO 20 feet container (6.10 m). A 40-foot container is equivalent to 2 TEU; a container between 20 and 40 feet long is equivalent to 1.50 TEU, and one over 40 feet is 2.25 TEU. The approximate tare of 1 TEU is 2.3 tons, and its maximum authorized weight with cargo is 25 tons, and the estimated tare of a 40-foot container is 3.7 tons.

SHIPS

• Merchant Ship: Any civilian ship used for navigation for commercial purposes, i.e., ships intended to transport goods, passengers, frozen fish, and factory ships (even if going for repairs). Warships, fresh fishing boats, supply vessels, tugs, dredgers, oceanographic vessels, training ships, etc., do not have such consideration.
• Gross Tonnage (G.T. or Gross Tonnage): It is a measure of the ship's capacity that quantifies the volume of all interior spaces of the ship, including cabins, accommodations, etc. It is stated in the International Tonnage Certificate (International Convention on Tonnage Measurement of Ships, 1969).
• Call: The temporary mooring of a ship, during a voyage, at a port located between the origin and the destination. Ship data actually reflect calls, not unique ships.
• Tanks: Transport liquid bulk (oil, liquefied natural gas...).
• Bulk Carriers: Transport solid bulk (minerals, cereals...).
• General Cargo Ships: Transport conventional cargo (not in containers and have their own cranes).
• Ro-Ro: Those with ramps for wheeled access of cargo (new vehicles, ferries or ro-pax...).
• Passenger-Only: Transport people (cruises, fast passenger ships...). If passengers embark with their own vehicles, they are ro-pax or ferries and fall within the ro-ro category.
• Cruises: Provide passengers with a complete tourist experience, with facilities and spaces for entertainment and accommodation.
• Container Ships: Transport goods in containers.
• Other Merchant Ships: Freezers, under repair...

PASSENGERS

• Passenger: A person traveling aboard a ship who is not a crew member, including drivers of cargo subject to the cargo fee. Passenger data reflect movements, not unique passengers.
• Passengers in Transport Regime: Those who enter/exit the port on regular lines (subject to itineraries, frequencies, tariffs, and pre-established conditions).
• Cruise Passengers: Those who take a cruise journey. Those who temporarily disembark from a cruise at a port for a visit and embark again to continue their journey are considered in transit.
• Inland Passengers: Those who navigate within the inland waters of the port.
• Other Passengers: Not included above (sailors, etc.).
• Maritime Station: Port facility dedicated to passenger and vehicle traffic in a passenger regime.