The Iberian port system in 2018 moved a combined total of 656 million tons of cargo, a new record. As far as containers are concerned, Iberian ports last year for the first time in history handled more than 20 million TEUs together.
Spanish ports accounted for the majority of this throughput, with a total of 563,4 million tons of cargo in 2018: 18,2 million tons or 3,35% more than in 2017. Portuguese ports on the other hand lost some market share in 2018, with all major ports posting negative growth rates. Portugal still shipped 92,6 million tons of cargo last year, but that was 3,3 million tons or 3,5% less than the previous year.
Segments that did well in Spain were both general cargo (+5,5%) as well as containers. The latter reached a grand total of 17,21 million TEU in 2018, up 7,92% compared to 2017.
Portugal ‘s slight downward trend can be explained by a variety of reasons. The country in 2018 imported less petroleum and related products (- 1,6 million tons) and coal (- 1,3 million tons) due to favourable climatic circumstances. The container sector hardly grew in Portugal (+ 0,5%, to 2,9 million TEU), which was caused by several strikes that especially hit the ports of Lisbon (- 13,5% TEU) and Setúbal (-19,1% TEU). The ports of Sines and Leixões however continued their upward trend in handling containers last year, scoring TEU growth rates of 4,9% and 5,5% respectively.
The ro-ro sector did well in Iberian ports. In Spain, ro-ro shipping grew towards 61,94 million tons handled last year, a plus of 6,67%. In Portugal ro-ro cargo grew by 11,1%, reaching 1,6 million tons.
Last year’s results also lead to several changes in our yearly ranking of the Iberian ports top 20. A table showing the new figures and ranking can be found below.
Algeciras is still firmly the leader of the pack and continues to grow. The port last years handled more than 107 million tons, which means Algeciras is Europe’s fourth port in cargo throughput. Valencia is still in second place in Iberia, but with moderate growth. Faster growth is taking place in neighbouring Castellón (+18,02%). Castellón went up two spots in our Iberian ranking for last year and now occupies the number 10 position among Iberian ports.
The port of Barcelona is growing fastest in absolute terms and added some 6,4 million tons of cargo last year (a 10,6% growth rate). The Catalan port is rapidly closing in on Valencia. Sines remained in fourth place, though it lost more than 4%, mainly liquid and other bulk cargo last year. Bilbao did well and moved up to fifth position. Cartagena, Gijón, Leixões, Tenerife and Setúbal all dropped a spot on last year’s ranking, while Huelva, Ferrol and Almeria all managed to move up one spot.
Not showing up in the ranking below - but still worth mentioning - are the smaller ports of Motril (up 20,78% last year) and Aveiro. The latter barely missed making it into the Iberian Top 20 after an excellent year of growth.