In the first quarter of 2024, Spanish ports came second in the European ranking by volume of goods. According to Eurostat, only three countries (Netherlands, Spain and Italy) exceeded the threshold of 100 million tonnes in the first three months of the year. If we look at the comparative data for the first quarter of this year with respect to the same period of the previous year, Spain snatches second place from Italy in terms of goods moved through its ports.

The weight of goods moved in Europe showed a downward trend of 3.2% less than the previous year, with 809.1 million tonnes. Looking at the Spanish dynamics, the port of Algeciras remained fourth in the ranking of European ports with the highest volume of tonnes moved, and was even able to increase its lead in the annual accumulated figures by 0.6% compared with the first quarter of 2023. And although the ports of Rotterdam, Antwerp-Bruges and Hamburg led the table, they recorded year-on-year losses of 6.5%, 3.2% and 2.4% respectively.

In containerised cargo and by teus, the port of Valencia ranked fourth, being the one that increased the most in the first quarter of 2024 compared to the same period of 2023, with a rise of 12.2%, although in the cumulative year-on-year figure it remained 0.1% above. The same trend was followed by the port of Algeciras, which closed the list of the top five with an increase of 4.8% in the first quarter compared to the first three months of 2023, with a cumulative annual increase of +1.3%.

In line with the overall trend for European ports, imports accounted for 61.1% of freight movements. Compared to the first quarter of 2023, inbound freight movements to the main EU ports decreased by 5% to 494.2 million tonnes. Exports remained relatively stable at 314.9 million tonnes.

The United States remained the EU´s largest maritime partner in the first quarter of 2024. The United Kingdom was second, followed by Norway, Turkey and China. Transport with Russia was in sixth position; Egypt, Brazil, Morocco and Nigeria completed the top 10 non-EU partner countries. EU shipping with the US and the UK together accounted for almost a quarter (24.5%) of total non-EU shipping.

News and image obtained: "Diario El Canal"

https://www.diarioelcanal.com/puertos-espanoles-ranking-europeo/