Car imports at the Port of Barcelona boost merchandise traffic until July

BarcelonaCar imports at the Port of Barcelona boost merchandise traffic until July. During the first seven months of the year, the infrastructure moved 41.7 million tons of goods, a figure equivalent to a 2% increase compared to the same period in the 2025 fiscal year. According to data presented this Monday by the Port, the increase in car movement was above the average variation of total traffic, thus remaining as one of the main drivers of growth in port activity.

Specifically, the Port of Barcelona handled 444,029 cars between January and July, which represents a 4.6% increase compared to the same period last year. In this regard, the infrastructure authority particularly highlights the evolution of imports, which increased by 25.5% year-on-year. By vehicle type, electric and hybrid vehicles registered a 48% increase and now represent almost one in every five vehicles of the total.

It should be remembered that vehicles are one of the main goods moved by the port, closely linked to the local automotive industry through companies like Seat. Barcelona is, in fact, the leading port in Spain for this type of traffic and the fifth in all of Europe. The Catalan capital is, at the same time, the entry point for 80% of Chinese cars that arrive in Spain.

Last year, the Port of Barcelona moved around 716,000 cars, a figure that it aims to continue expanding to almost a million. Precisely one of the projects that aims to contribute to the objective is the investment of 75 million euros that the Japanese logistics giant NYK began to implement last April. With this disbursement, the multinational aims to build a new terminal with the capacity to move nearly 180,000 vehicles, mainly imports.

Boost for bulk solids

The other major driver of cargo traffic at the port has been bulk solids. According to the latest data, up to 2.3 million tons of these products arrived in Barcelona between January and July, a 5.3% increase compared to the same period last year. Within this category, increases in materials such as cement or clinker, by 17%, and potash, by 11.8%, stand out.

To a lesser extent, bulk liquids also contributed to the rise in cargo traffic. During the first seven months of the year, these registered a 2.7% increase year-on-year, with a movement of 9.9 million tons. Here, chemicals and biofuels stand out, with increases of 49% and 46%, respectively.

All in all, the number of TEU containers – 6.1 meters long, 2.44 meters wide, and 2.6 meters high – that passed through the Port of Barcelona until July rose to 2.2 million, a 1.5% increase.

In the case of full import containers, the increase was 6.1%, while the number of full transit containers – those that do not have Barcelona as their initial or final destination – increased by 5.8%. On the other hand, full export containers fell by 10%.