The port ended 2015 with a total container throughput of 4,615,196 TEU – mainly due to good performance in import-export (+6.11%) and transit traffic (+2.12%).
In terms of total traffic, Valenciaport handled a total of 70,083,977 tonnes in 2015, i.e. an increase of 4.44% over the previous year, registering the best ever traffic figures for the three ports managed by the Port Authority of Valencia (Valencia, Sagunto and Gandia). Foreign trade also performed well with imports and exports of general cargo going up by 10.38% to 21.01 million tonnes. A breakdown of these figures reveals a 10.19% rise in exports, to 13.64 million tonnes, mainly boosted by buoyant traffic results to China (+4.80%), Saudi Arabia (+25.63%), the USA (+28.65%) and Algeria (+0.52%). Imports also grew by 10.73% to 7,369,936 tonnes, with traffic from China (+1.68%), Italy (+22.89%), the USA (+1.54%) and Turkey (+22.63%) being particularly significant. Overall transit figures, meanwhile, rose by 4.82% during the year.
Containerised general cargo increased by 6.04% in 2015, to a total throughput of 52,267,244 tonnes. In this category, finished construction materials went up by 7.38% to 5.21 million tonnes, other goods rose by 4.51% to 2.02 million tonnes, and chemical products increased by 5.63% to 1.65 million tonnes.
Conventional general cargo ended the year with a total throughput of 10,834,853 tonnes, up 14.80% on 2014. This increase was mainly due to encouraging results in iron and steel products, which rose by 13.28% to 1.93 million tonnes, and in cars and car parts, which went up by 33.35%to 1.39 million tonnes. Similarly in 2015, the ports of Valencia and Sagunto together moved a total of 689,426 vehicles as goods, i.e. an impressive 40.36% increase over the previous year. Ro-ro traffic also ended the year on a high note with a total of 8,544,804 tonnes, up 12.38% on 2014.
Conversely, liquid bulk dropped sharply by 26.94% in 2015, to a total of 3,814,375 tonnes, These decreases were headed by natural gas throughput, which fell by 39.05% to 2.24 million tonnes, and by fuel-oil, which went down by 15.60% to 326,000 tonnes. On the upside, diesel traffic rose by 30.29% to 477,000 tonnes.
In turn, solid bulk grew slightly during the year (+0.17%) to 2,684,864 tonnes. In this category, grain and flour shipments went up by 8.37% to 993,000 tonnes, whilst figures for cement and clinker rose by 9.01% to 722,000 tonnes. On the downside, natural and artificial fertilisers closed the year with 511,000 tonnes, i.e. a fall of
5.27%.