Record first quarter in the Port of Tarragona

More than 9 million tons of cargo handled between January and March, the highest figure since 2012

A record month of March with exceptional growth in different types of cargo

A record first quarter in the Port of Tarragona, which handled 9 million tons of cargo between January and March 2019, an increase of 6.6% over the same period last year. The high rate of activity at the beginning of this year is mainly due to the excellent performance of cargo during March, which reached 3.1 million tons (11.2% more than March 2018), making this first quarter of 2019 the Port’s best in the past seven years (since 2012).

The results for the first quarter of 2019 show a growth of 8% in liquid bulks (+5.5 million tons) and 7.4% in solid bulks (2.9 million tons). In contrast, general cargo fell by 12.1% during the quarter, with a movement of 458,000 tons, although it improved considerably in March.

An exceptional March

The excellent performance of the Port of Tarragona in this first quarter of 2019 can be explained above all by an exceptional month of March, with activity growing by 11.2%, to reach the figure of 3.1 million tons of cargo handled. This makes it the second best month of March in the past 15 years in the Port of Tarragona (the best month of March on record is from 2008).

March this year saw increases in all traffic groups. In liquid bulks the port handled 2 million tons (+7%), in solid bulks 900,000 tons (+20.8%) and in general cargo more than 192,000 tons (+17.7%). Conventional general cargo grew by 32.8% to 154,501 tons. In this area, special mention should be made of the paper and paper pulp sector that, at more than 71,300 tons handled (+101.4%), had its best March ever.

Growth in agri-food products

Agri-food traffic continues to grow, both monthly and quarterly. During the first three months of this year the growth in this sector was 11.4% with respect to the same period last year, with more than 1.6 million tons handled. Cereals and their flours, at 1.08 million tons (+1.9%) had the best first quarter, surpassing the 1.06 million tons of 2018 and, more specifically, during the month of March with an increase of 9.1% and 327,000 tons handled. Feed and forage at 479,137 tons also recorded their best quarter, exceeding the figures for 2005.

Record in crude oil and its derivates

In the liquid bulks groups, of particular note is the traffic in crude petroleum. Between January and March the Port of Tarragona handled 2.52 million tons, making it the best quarter in the history of the port and surpassing the 2.45 million tons of crude in the same period of 2007. Gasoline, at 406,795 tons (+764.6%) also had both its best first quarter and its best March with 192,235 tons handled (+437.2%). Energy-producing gases (propane and butane) also had their best periods: 458,016 tons in the quarter (38.3%) and 151,332 tons in March (2.6%).

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