The Statistical Bulletin of the Port Authority of València (PAV) for the month of August shows a continued growth of 0.74% in solid and liquid bulk traffic in the year-on-year period – which covers the last twelve months – reaching 7,862,059 tonnes handled at the Valencian docks. In August, the growth is 1.95%: +56.2% for solid bulks and -18.23% for liquid bulks.
This Bulletin also shows a moderate contraction in Valenciaport’s overall traffic (all goods handled) and the movements recorded in its docks over the last three months show signs of stabilisation. This can be seen in the analysis of the month of August, which shows a fall of 6.87% in the volume of tonnes and a drop of 11.72% in the number of containers. When analysing the accumulated, the evolution of traffic in the first eight months of the year shows a drop of -7.98% in the volume of tonnes handled from the Valencian ports and -10.58% in the number of TEU’s (standard 20-foot containers).
In addition to bulk cargo, more positive figures can be seen in rail transport, which continues to grow month by month. Despite the slowdown in activity in terms of goods, rail transport continues to grow and during the first eight months of this year a total of 157,572 TEUs (+6.38%) entered and left the Valencian docks by rail: 2,165,539 tonnes have been moved, an increase of 9.68%. In this sense, the measures promoted by Valenciaport to encourage rail transport -such as the construction of seven sidings in the Sagunto -Teruel- Zaragoza line- and which are part of the PAV’s Decarbonisation Plan are giving good results.
In line with the growth data for rail transport, ro-ro traffic (short sea shipping services for roll-on/roll-off cargo) grew by 12.21% in August at the Valenciaport docks (compared to the same month in 2022) to reach 40,397 units. Following a constant upward trend, this type of traffic now totals 8,936,490 tonnes transported in 2023, 1.61% more than in the same period of 2022.
The latest data from the PAV’s Statistical Bulletin also show a sustained and continuous increase in the movement of automobiles so far this year. Thus, between January and August, the València and Sagunto docks have handled 425,184 units, 10.54% more than in the same period last year.
This positive trend is also maintained in the vehicles and transport elements sector, specifically the section of cars and their parts, which has grown in this period by 15.33% to reach 1,361,203 tonnes and in fertilisers, which has grown by 10.35% (52,001 tonnes handled more than in the first eight months of 2022).
For its part, the performance of cruise tourism maintains the figures of increase in the annual computation with 33.87% more tourists than in the first eight months of 2022. The number of total passengers (cruises and regular lines) has also grown by 14.38% so far in 2023, which means a total of 472,083 cruise passengers and 556,277 people who have travelled on regular lines with the Balearic Islands and Algeria. Although this month the number of cruise passengers has dropped slightly in the Port of Valencia -2.13% compared to August 2022.
China is Valenciaport’s main trading partner in 2023 with the management of 520,298 containers, closely followed by the United States with 240,340; although the countries that have grown most in their traffic with Valenciaport have been Egypt (+28.08), Vietnam (+25.07%), Brazil (15.15%) and India (+12.76%). Focusing on traffic by country in terms of tonnage, Italy continues to be Valenciaport’s main trading partner with 4,367,037 tonnes handled this year, followed by China with 4,227,171 and the USA with 3,771,485. Nigeria achieved a growth of 42.14%, Egypt again grew for another month along with India by 25.15% and 19.46%, respectively.