The natural gas traffic operated by the Port of Sagunto in the first two months of this year has tripled compared to 2021. According to data from the Statistical Bulletin of the Port Authority of Valencia (PAV), in this period a total of 601,622 tonnes – 90% are imports – of natural gas have been mobilised compared to 192,225 tonnes last year. At the beginning of this year, the United States, with more than 40% of imported gas, was the main supplier, followed by Oman and Nigeria. The conflict between Ukraine and Russia, the closure of the gas pipeline from Algeria and the international situation are positioning sites such as Sagunto as a strategic entry point for this energy source.
In the year to date, Valenciaport’s docks have handled a total of 13,704,966 tonnes of goods, with an increase of 2.06% compared to January-February 2021. Of this traffic, 74% was containerised cargo, 16.5% non-containerised, 6.5% liquid bulk, which has experienced 100% growth due to the pull of natural gas, and 3% solid bulk.
Regarding TEU (standard 20-foot container) traffic, between January and February this year, a total of 894,180 TEUs were moved, 1.67% less than the same period last year. Full freight containers (export) again grew by 1.6% and full unloading containers (import) rose by 6.22%, in both cases following the trend of recent months. Full transit containers fell by 5.94%, while empty containers decreased by 0.55%.
In the first two months of this year, 94,634 cars have been moved, 7.32% more and ro-ro traffic has reached 1,974,880 tonnes, 4.89% more than in 2021. In this period, 71,091 ILUs – intermodal transport units that can be containers, swap bodies or semi-trailers – have been handled, 5.85% more, while containers in ro-ro traffic have grown by 13.26%.
In year-on-year terms (Mar21-Feb22), total goods handled amounted to 85,090,678 tonnes, 4.76% more than in the same period of the previous year. The number of TEUs reached 5,589,270, an increase of 2.52%. In this section, the number of full TEUs dedicated to export was 1,083,700, with an increase of 11.96%, while those for import increased by 18.98%. On the other hand, those in transit decreased by 4.99% in the case of the full ones, and fell by 14.32% in the case of the empty ones, following the trend of this month of January.
With regard to goods traffic by sector, vehicles and transport elements, with 1,813,815 tonnes, continue to be the industry that moves the most goods through Valenciaport, with an increase of 3% compared to the first two months of 2021. This was followed by the agri-food industry, which moved a total of 1,418,851 tonnes with an increase of 5.72%, highlighting the 42.54% increase in imports of cereals and their flours and the 28.57% increase in feed and fodder. The construction materials sector with 1,285,782 tonnes and an increase of 4.66%. The greatest growth was in the energy sector, which grew by 110% due to the effect of natural gas.
China and the United States have reaffirmed themselves as Valenciaport’s main trading partners in these first months of 2022, although with different behaviours. Trade with the Asian giant amounted to 1,112,073 tonnes (-7%) and 97,782 containers (-7%). On the other hand, the United States has experienced a dynamism with 1,463,215 tonnes handled (+32.16%) and 81,588 TEUs (+2.24%). It should be noted that imports from the United States in this period have increased by 430%. Italy is another market on the rise, both in terms of total traffic with 1,314,217 tonnes (+14.14%) and 22,949 containers (+25%).
By geographical areas, the main market is the Mediterranean-Black Sea with 3,885,891 tonnes of goods handled and a decrease of 0.85%, followed by the Far East with 1,639,745 tonnes (+2.37%). In this section, the activity of regions such as USA South Atlantic and Gulf (+96.7%), Atlantic Europe (+44.36%) and New Zealand (+72%) should be highlighted.