The Chinese car boom continues to boost traffic at the port of Barcelona
Imports are growing, driven by the new 'car-carrier' ships, which specialize in transporting vehicles.
BarcelonaThe import of cars, especially those from China, is driving freight traffic at the Port of Barcelona, which closed the first 10 months of the year with a 4.6% increase compared to the same period in 2014. This data consolidates the growth that began in September. This trend is due to the sharp increase in imports, which have risen by 35.6%, largely driven by the boom in vehicle arrivals from the Asian giant. The Port Authority highlights the arrival of new ships in Barcelona. car-caller, "which significantly improve service capacity, along with a rebound in sales in the European vehicle market and the growing import of Chinese cars," are facilitating the recovery of this traffic.
This is a trend that has been consolidating. Last month, the Port of Barcelona attributed the sharp increase in car traffic to several factors, including "the rebound in car sales in the European market and their arrival, largely from China." Added to this was the recovery, since mid-year, of capacity in ferry services. car-street. Export containers have increased by 4.6% year-to-date, while import containers have risen by 5.5%. Total container traffic reached 3,150,888 TEUs (the unit of measurement used in this sector) in the first ten months of the year, a decrease of 4.4% due to the decline in traffic resulting from adjustments to shipping routes by major carriers. Traffic with the main origin and destination markets for containerized goods passing through the Port of Barcelona remains positive, with notable increases to China (+4.9%), India (+14.8%), and South Korea (+11.4%).
Total traffic at the Port of Barcelona between January and October of this year reached 58,764,731 tons (-0.5%), in line with the traffic achieved last year. Liquid bulk cargo continues to rise, with an increase of 17.5%. The increase in hydrocarbons is particularly noteworthy: gasoline (+46.6%) and natural gas (+52.2%). Solid bulk cargo, on the other hand, declined by 15.6%. Passenger traffic totaled 5.19 million people, a 7.7% increase. Between January and October, ferries transported 1,623,236 passengers (+2.7%), and cruise ship traffic reached 3,566,759 passengers. Of these, 2,090,542 visited the city of Barcelona, representing an 8.49% increase. Regarding short sea shipping, a total of 367,565 intermodal transport units (ITUs) were handled at the Port of Barcelona, a figure slightly higher than in 2024.