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Chemical sector continues to lead sales abroad, followed by capital goods and automobiles

The movement of goods at the Catalan capital port increased some 12.3% in the first nine months of the year

The Port of Barcelona has been opening new regular routes for container transportation in the last few months, improving the connections with strategic markets in the Americas, Asia, West Africa and the Mediterranean area. An example of this trend is the new route served by MNM African Shipping Line, a company founded this year based in the port of Tanger-Med and working for transport and logistics firms from Morocco and Nigeria. This new line will be using vessels with a 2,500 TEU container capacity to connect the Catalan capital with major ports in North and West Africa such as Tangier, Casablanca, Agadir, Nouakchott, Dakar, Conakry, Lagos, Tema and Abidjan, covering an area with some 300 million people.

63% more exports have been channelled through the Port of Barcelona during the first six months of 2014 than in the same period of 2008, prior to the economic crisis. On Friday, the President of Barcelona Port Authority, Sixte Cambra, announced that 2014 will be the year of record sums of exports and imports from the Catalan port. The Port finished the first half of 2014 with 22.5 million tons of goods transported, representing an increase of 7% compared with the same period of 2013. Cambra said that growth occurred in all cargo sections of the port, driven by foreign trade, especially exports.

Hutchison Port Holdings (HPH) intends to make the terminal it runs in Barcelona's Port the most productive in the world, according to Clemence Cheng, Managing Director of HPH Europe. Cheng said that in its first two years the terminal has exceeded all expectations.  The Chinese company will therefore increase its ''commitment'' to Barcelona and will effect the second phase of investment at a cost of €150 million, in addition to the €315 million already invested two years ago. The President of the Catalan Government, Artur Mas, participated on Friday in a ceremony to mark the kick-off of the new phase of construction and took the opportunity to claim the right of self-determination is also in order for Barcelona's Port to have maximum autonomy and not depend on decisions taken far away in Madrid.

The Port of Barcelona handled 10.7 million tons of goods during the first 3 months of 2014, which represents a 9% increase on the same period last year. Between January and March, all the types of transported goods posted a significant growth, and the same trend applies to the traffic of passengers, which grew by 9%. In the first quarter of the year, the number of vehicles transported grew by 5%, as did the number of containers, which reached 428,720 TEU. Container imports increased by 7% and exports by 3%. Container exports grew particularly to countries such as China (+31%), the United States (+17%), Morocco (+35%) and Mexico (+87%). The traffic of bulk liquids increased by 24%, particularly diesel and other fuel, as well as chemical products.

The President of the Port of Barcelona, ??Sixte Cambra, said on Wednesday that the total container traffic had reached around one million TEUs for the full year (the reference unit for cargo ships, equivalent to 20 feet containers). “This is the record number of the best pre-crisis times, which happened in 2007” stated Cambra during an informational breakfast in Madrid. The President of the Port of Barcelona also underlined the change in trends since in 2007, in spite of the record number of containers, “more than 60% were imports; in 2013 over 60% were exported containers.”

The Italian ferry company has built a 63,000 square metre terminal at the Costa dock, with an investment of €20 million and a capacity of 3,600 passengers per day. The new terminal will allow the city of Barcelona to gain a new urban area, since the space accessing and surrounding the terminal will be integrated into the city for the first time. Urban planning work will be concluded by the end of the year, announced the Mayor of Barcelona, Xavier Trias. The terminal has restaurants, bars, shops and free Wi-fi, and will allow the boarding of passengers and goods.

The port of Barcelona dealt with 174,711 TEU export containers between January and April. Most of the containers go to countries such as Russia, Turkey, Algeria or the United States, as well as regions in South-East Asia and South America. A new study by the port states that exports are now higher than ever and have helped create a diversified market to the five continents. The number of cruise passengers has also jumped 10%.

Passenger traffic from the Catalan capital’s harbour increased by 18% in the period from January to March, and that of cruise passengers grew by 40%. In total, 9.8 million tonnes of goods were transported through the Port of Barcelona. The tonnes of goods transported via container increased by 0.8%. Regarding the transport of cars, which is one of the harbour’s main activities, 164,452 car units were transported through the port, a 1% increase compared to last year.

The Port of Barcelona, one of southern Europe’s main transport infrastructures, continues to bring positive results. Over the last year the Catalan harbour unveiled two new container terminals, an investment to consolidate the trend of attracting greater container traffic, as the 8.7% increase shows. In addition, the number of cars transported increased by 9.8%. These figures are to be added to the 12% increase in container exports and 25% growth of car exports through Barcelona’s harbour in 2011. Besides, the port in the capital of Catalonia continues to lead the cruise ship sector in Europe, transporting 2.4 million passengers and almost reaching last year’s record high of 2.6 million cruisers.

The Catalan capital hosts the largest and most modern container terminal of the Mediterranean Sea, a true gate for cargo ships, linking Europe with the Middle East, Northern Africa and Asia. BEST, which stands for Barcelona Europe South Terminal, represents a €515 million investment by Hutchison Port Holdings (HPH). This week it has unveiled the first part of the project: 100 hectares to store containers, 1.5 kilometres of docking space for cargo ships, 98 cranes and a provisional international-width railway connection to compete with northern European harbours. However, the Spanish Government has not started the definitive railway connection yet, despite many promises.

The Mayor of Barcelona welcomed the company’s investments and commitment to efficiency at the Port of Barcelona. The Catalan harbour is significantly increasing its container traffic in the last few years. Barcelona’s Port aims to become the main logistical hub in Southern Europe, using the international standard rail gauge to directly connect to Central Europe and new freight terminals. The Catalan company TCB is expanding its freight railway station and its power substation, as well as enlarging the ship docking space. The improvements will increase the maximum number of shipping containers transported by TCB from 0.9 million to 2.3 million by the end of 2013.