The Port de Tarragona has grown by 1.8% between January and April

Tarragona’s port infrastructure closed the first four months of this year with a positive growth trend. Specifically, during the first four months of the year (January-April) the Port has moved 10.6 million tonnes, which represents an increase of 1.8%.

Focusing on the traffic moved during the last month of the period, the Port of Tarragona closed April positively in terms of traffic. 2.7 million Tonnes were moved, representing an increase of 17% compared to April of last year. This is particularly the case of solid bulk, with an increase of 103%, mainly consisting of cereals - almost 300,000 tonnes and a 65.9% increase, and also the movement of coal, with 374,000 tonnes moved during the month of April. Nonetheless, liquid bulk registered a growth of 1.5%, with 1.8 million tonnes moved this April. In terms of general cargo, of particular interest was non-containerised cargo, which increased by 26.6%, with 123.154 tonnes moved.

10.6 million Tonnes moved between January and April

The Port of Tarragona is one of the foremost ports in the Mediterranean in terms of the traffic in agri-food products. From January to April the Port handled 1.2 million tonnes. In this segment, the increase in feed and forage (38.3%) is of note, driven by the growth in imports. This growth is due to the increase in imports, and this produce is then distributed from the port of Tarragona to feed producers located in the hinterland (area of influence),which represent 60% of the feedstuff production for the whole of Spain.

The movement of energy sector goods increases by 4.9%

Energy products maintain their upward trend. Between the months of January and April the Port’s terminals handled 7.6 million tonnes of energy products, 4.9% more than the same period in 2016. The most significant traffic in terms of growth were coal (+ 33.8%), petroleum energy gases (+ 23%), fuel oil (+ 17.1%) and gas-oil (15.2%). In terms of the movement of chemical products, the Port of Tarragona moved 607,769 tonnes, representing a decrease of 2.4% compared with the same period in 2016. In contrast, fertilizers recorded an exponential growth of 115.9%, with 176.647 tonnes moved.

General cargo and vehicles

In the case of general cargo, during the first four months of the year the Port of Tarragona maintained the same figures as in the same period in the previous year (around 600,000 tonnes moved). It should be noted that one of the most significant items has been the increase in vehicle traffic (loading and unloading), standing at 64,478 vehicles moved, compared to 56,985 for the first four months of the previous year.