port of barcelona

Positive trends continue in other activities, with nearly one million passengers passing through facility in first four months of year

50a50 presented on Tuesday an all-female list of candidates for president of Barcelona Chamber of Commerce

48% more containers handled compared to 2017

14k meters squared of the maritime institution will also be freed up for public use

The officers living in the boat since September will be relocated to Catalan hotels

Total traffic grew by 31% while the movement of containers increased by 37%

The total goods transported through the Port of Barcelona grew by 20.2% while the Port also received more than 1 million passengers in only 5 months

The CEO of the Port of Barcelona, Sixte Cambra, warned that it may negatively affect the country’s economy

The ports of Barcelona and Miami have signed a deal to increase the quantity of cruises and cargo traffic. The agreement looks to exchange information in order to improve the areas of mobility, security, maritime management, and environment. Thanks to this collaboration, Miami, the most important port when it comes to cruises, and Barcelona, Europe’s leading cruise port, will strengthen their ties. The agreement was signed during the trip of Catalonia's vice-president and minister of economy, Oriol Junqueras, to the United States, which began on Monday. According to the Catalan delegation, the Spanish consul in Miami tried to interfere with the agenda and the planned official events at the signing of the agreement. Cándido Creis wanted to force the text to include a reference to the “Spanish Kingdom”. However, this reference did not exist in any prior agreements between the two ports, and it was not included in this new one either.

The port of Barcelona closed last year with unprecedented figures. The transport of shipping containers rose by 14.5% with a record figure of 2.2 TEU containers handled. This according to the data presented on Tuesday by the Port President, Sixte Cambra, who said that exports rose by 3.8% while imports increased by 8.7%. The Asian-Oceania market now represents 77% of imports and 43% of exports from the port. In fact, China alone accounts for 43% of the import containers, with a 13% increase during 2016. It is also to China that most of the exporting containers go. The American market represents 25% of exports and 9% of imports from the Port of Barcelona. Catalan exports being handled from the Port of Barcelona are mainly food, equipment and chemicals. Imports are basically textiles, equipment and other manufactured products.

Catalonia and Japan have renewed their business, cultural, touristic and research ties for the next three years, through the so-called ‘Japan Plan 2016-2019’. The Government presented the agreement, approved last 25^th of October, on Monday and explained that it aims at boosting business promotion, investment attraction, tourism cooperation, student mobility and cultural and gastronomic exchange. While the presentation of the Plan was taking place on Monday morning in Barcelona, a mission organised by the Port of Barcelona and Acció, the Catalan Public competitiveness and internationalisation agency, was in Panama trying to improve the trade relationship with the Central America region. The Catalan Minister for Business and Knowledge, Jordi Baiget, and the Catalan Minister for Planning and Sustainability, Josep Rull, accompanied fifty Catalan companies on their visit to Panama and Cuba, where they held 300 meetings with local businesses.  

A total of 2.7 million cruise travellers will have passed through the Port of Barcelona by the end of 2016, a figure that represents an increase of about 9-10% over 2015 and marks a new record. This was announced on Monday by the president of the Port of Barcelona, ??Sixte Cambra, who explained that until now the record stood at 2.6 million cruise passengers and was achieved in 2011. It is estimated that cruises this year will generate a turnover of almost €1,000 million, while the contribution to the Catalan GDP could reach €500 million. According to Cambra, these good results are primarily due “to the boost of activity as a home port, which grew 10% compared to last year”. 

The largest cruise ship in the whole world, the ‘Harmony of the Seas’, has set sail in the Mediterranean from the Port of Barcelona. Indeed, the Royal Caribbean cruise company has selected the Catalan capital as the base for its Mediterranean cruise ships. Thus, Barcelona is now the only city in the world to have served as a turnaround port for Royal Caribbean’s three biggest ships. The ‘Harmony of the Seas’ is gargantuan: a capacity of 9,000 people, weighing more than 200,000 tons, and offering access to two surf simulators, a natural park and the highest slide possible. This all helps to contribute to the success of the Port of Barcelona: this 2016, the record from 2011 is expected to be equalled, with 2.6 million passengers welcomed at the Port, through 750 stopovers from the 40 cruise companies that operate at the infrastructure. Indeed, 30 million euros are forecast to be added to the economy of the Catalan capital. 

More than 723,500 vehicles were transported through Port de Barcelona during the first ten months of the year, 19% more than in the same period last year. Most of them, 374,554, were exports, although what grew the most from January to September were vehicle imports (+41%). Freight traffic during the first ten months of the year was 3% higher than in the same period last year, reaching 1.6 TEU, the transport unit which is equal to a 20-foot container. Goods exports were higher than imports and China and the USA topped the ranking of destination markets. Finally, from January to October Port de Barcelona received 3.3 million passengers, which is 6% more than the same period last year. 2.2 million of these were cruise liner passengers.

From January to September this year, Barcelona's port transported 100,666 UTI, the transport unit which equals a lorry, a platform or a trailer. The highest increase was registered in those services connecting the Catalan capital with Italian destinations, in particular Genoa, Civitavecchia, Livorno, Savona and Porto Torres. The rest of the goods transportation corresponded to short sea shippings, which are the connections between Barcelona and the North of Africa, mainly Tangier. Exports from January to September were higher than imports, and grew by 9% in comparison to the same period last year.Vehicle transportation continued to grow and registered 18% growth in the first nine months of the year, and 10,000 lorries have been diverted from road to maritime routes, according to data published this Thursday by Port de Barcelona for January to September.