The number of passengers almost doubles compared to a year ago

MADRID, 23 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) -

Freight traffic from the 46 ports of general interest in the State amounted to 516 million tons in the first eleven months of the year, which represents an increase of 3.6% compared to the same period last year, according to data published by State ports.

This figure once again shows a slowdown in the rate of traffic growth, since the accumulated rate up to July showed an increase of 6.9%, which has been decreasing to 5% in September, 4.5% in October and, now, 3.6% in November.

Puertos del Estado justifies that the slowdown of the economy on a global scale and the imbalances in the logistics and distribution chains have been felt in port traffic, although it continues to maintain its forecast of closing the year with figures similar to those of 2019, before of the pandemic.

By way of presentation, general merchandise exceeded 250 million tons, although with a decrease of 1.2%, highlighting the increases in wood and cork (11%), at the same time that the movement of merchandise fell by 4.6 %, offset by the 7.5% increase in conventional merchandise traffic.

Liquid bulk increased by 6.2%, with a total of 165.7 million tons, thanks to the advance of natural gas (44%), with 20.4 million tons, in addition to crude oil (11.8%). , with 58.4 million tons, or gasoline (11.3%).

The third large group of merchandise, which corresponds to solid bulk, grew by 10.6%, with 85.8 million tons accumulated as of November of this year, highlighting the increase in coal (62.5%), with 17, 3 million tons, and cereals and their flours (42.4%), with 14.7 million tons.

Ro-ro traffic, which exceeded the volume reached in 2019 by almost 9%, grew by 9.7% compared to the previous year, with 65.5 million tons.

Containers registered a movement of 15.8 million units, with a decrease of 2.5% compared to 2021, mainly due to the 5.5% drop in containers in transit, and despite the good performance of national traffic, which advanced 4.7%.

Passenger traffic continues to recover rapidly, with an increase of 87.8% compared to the same period of the previous year, exceeding 30.6 million passengers this month, both on regular lines and cruise ships.

This advance is explained by the opening this year of Operation Passage of the Strait and the recovery of cruise traffic, which experienced growth of 294.8%, with 7.5 million cruise passengers.

Finally, the number of ships that transited through the ports rose to 144,935 units, with an increase of 13.5% compared to 2021.