Record container traffic at Valenciaport

These figures were attributed to an increase in foreign container traffic, which rose by 4.99%, re-affirming Valencia’s place as an important outlet for Spanish foreign trade.

Specifically, figures revealed that containerised exports increased by 4.96% with a total of 1,11m teu, while imports increased by 5.03% to 1.11 teu. Container transit traffic also ended the 2016 with a small increase of 0.08%.

In terms of total traffic, volumes at the three ports managed by the Port Authority of Valencia – Valencia, Sagunto and Gandia – increased by 1.71% over 2015, with a total of 71.28m tonnes handled.

Foreign trade increased with import-export rising by 1.93% to 21.43m tonnes. Exports recorded a rise of 0.61% to 13.74m tonnes due mostly to strong exports to China, the US and Morocco. Meanwhile, imports rose by 4.39% to 7.70m tonnes.

In terms of transit traffic, figures increased by 1.38% during 2016.

Containerised general cargo also recorded a rise, increasing by 2.96% to 53.79m tonnes in 2016 due mostly to growth in goods such as construction materials and chemical products, among more.

However, conventional general cargo, liquid bulk and solid bulk all recorded a decrease in 2016: conventional general cargo decreased by 0.78% to 10.75m tonnes in 2016; liquid bulk by 0.3% to 3.80m tonnes; and solid bulk by 7.67% to 2.48m tonnes.

The five countries shipping the largest volume of goods through Valenciaport in 2016 were Spain, with 8.48m tonnes; China, with 6.76m tonnes; Algeria, with 5.63m tonnes; Italy, with 4.88m tonnes; and the US, with 4.37m tonnes.

Geographically, the Mediterranean and Black sea recorded the largest volume of traffic of 19.38m tonnes, followed by the Far East with traffic of 9.85m tonnes in 2016.