The section on containers reports a 5% increase in exports from January to June, maintaining the dynamism of recent months. The month of June recorded the highest growth rate with a dramatic 14% rise basically focused on emerging markets (China, Algeria and Argentina).
New vehicles constitute the best performing product in terms of sales in international markets. Between January and June specialized terminals in the Port handled a total of 197,613 export vehicles, with accumulated growth of 14.4% on the same period for last year. In fact, exports already account for 58% of all vehicle movements in the Port of Barcelona and are principally destined for sale in Germany, Algeria, Australia, China, Mexico, Russia, Morocco and to a lesser extent, the Ukraine and Tunisia.
Altogether, the Port of Barcelona handled a total of 343,620 vehicles until the month of June, including exports, imports, and cabotage. So far, June has been the most dynamic month this year with the volume of cars handled up 21%.
Exports are therefore the traffic type that is withstanding the onslaught of the recession best; a fundamental element in the diversification of falling internal trade both in Spain and Europe, guaranteeing the survival of many businesses.
Recovery of traffic in the hinterland
In terms of goods passing through the port as a whole, it is worth noting that traffic in the hinterland (imports and exports) have for the first time this year recorded an increase, of 2%, largely due to the good results in June (+15%). These increases largely correspond to the good performance of solid and liquid bulk and the export of containers and cars. In light of these results, traffic in the hinterland is experiencing a significant recovery, achieving levels close to those of 2008.
Throughput in the Port of Barcelona during the first semester has been 21.4 million tons, representing a 5% decrease in relation to volumes handled during the same period in 2011. This is predominantly due to the decrease in container transhipment traffic.
In spite of the boost in container exports, containerized cargo imports recorded a decrease of 14%, while transhipment has experienced the greatest reduction (-49%). So, altogether, the Catalan infrastructure handled a total of 849,973 TEU, 20% less than in the first semester last year.