Container traffic up in Spain

Figures released by the national ports authority, Puertos del Estado, show that Algeciras, which was overtaken by the Port of Valencia in 2015, has once again become Spain’s leading container port. For the quarter, it boosted traffic by 14.23% to 1,160,629 teu. At the same time, the Port of Valencia registered a drop of 2.58%, although still moved 1,138,352 teu.

Between them, Algeciras and Valencia account for 65% of all containers handled in Spain.

Barcelona remains in third place, generating traffic of 491,888 teu, which is equivalent to an increase of 7.52% compared with the first quarter of last year.

In contrast, Spain’s other major box port, Las Palmas, posted a loss of 12.42% and handled just 197,997 teu, despite MSC promising to increase transhipment traffic there.

However, March overall was not a great month for import-export containers, which declined by 2.62% compared to March 2015. In total, March generated non-transhipment traffic of 438.246 teu, with Algeciras registering a drop of 12.08% and Barcelona an increase of 3.35%.