These positive figures were due to an increase in foreign container traffic, which rose by 4.99%, consolidating the site as the best platform for Spanish foreign trade by sea. Specifically, containerized exports increased by 4.96% with a total of 1,105,438 TEU while imports went up by 5.03% to 1,105,978 TEUs. Container transit traffic has ended the year with a light increase of 0.08%.
In terms of total traffic, the three ports managed by the Port Authority of Valencia (Valencia, Sagunto and Gandia) increased by 1.71% over the previous year, with a total of 71,280,984 tonnes handled. Foreign trade increased with import-export rising by 1.93% to a total traffic of 21,434,954 tonnes. Exports recorded a rise of 0.61%, to a total of 13,738,607 tonnes, thanks to good registrations of countries such as China (+ 7.22%), United States (+ 9.96%) and Morocco (+ 1.43%). Meanwhile, imports rose by 4.39% to 7,696,347 tonnes due to the results of countries such as France (+ 2.14%), the United States (+ 8.18%) and India (+ 29.82%) stand out. In terms of transit traffic, figures went up by 1.38% during 2016.
Containerised general cargo recorded a rise of 2.91%, with total traffic standing at 53,786,327 tonnes. This growth is motivated by goods such as the construction materials which rose by 2.29% to 5.33 million tonnes; other goods which went up by 4.76% to 2.11 million tonnes; and chemical products which increased by 9.47% to 1.81 million tonnes.
Conventional general cargo decreased by 0.78% in 2016. In total, during this year, 10,749,993 tonnes of this type of goods has been handled. This decrease is mainly due to the decline in steel products, which fell by 4.57% to 1.84 million tonnes. Conversely, cars and their parts registered and increase of 10.69% to 1.54 million tonnes. A breakdown of this traffic revealed that the ports of Valencia and Sagunto handled 774,708 vehicles in 2016, up 12.37% on the previous year. These figures consolidate Valenciaport as one of the main logistics platforms in Spain for the automotive sector. Similarly, ro-ro traffic grew by 4.33% to 8,914,957 tonnes.
Liquid bulk, meanwhile, closed the year with a decrease of 0.30% and a total traffic of 3,803,068 tonnes. This heading includes movements of goods such as natural gas (+ 2.82%) to 2.30 million tonnes; gas oil (+ 0.72%) to 481,000 tonnes; and chemicals (-1.73%) to 336,000 tonnes.
Solid bulk also fell by 7.67%, to a total traffic of 2,478,928 tonnes. This decrease is mainly motivated by goods such as cereals and flours which decreased by 9.66% to 897,000 tonnes; natural and artificial fertilizers which fell by 3.94% to 491,000 tonnes; and cement and clinker which went down by 34.64% to 472,000 tonnes.
Passenger traffic
According to data from the statistical bulletin of the Port Authority of Valencia, in 2016 403,264 people arrived in Valencia aboard one of the 181 tourist cruise calls that have arrived at the port, representing an increase of 7.66% over the previous year. Meanwhile, 504,881 passengers used regular line services, an increase of 35.16%. In total, during the 2016 year, 908,145 people used the port of Valencia for their maritime journeys, which represents an increase of 21.39% compared to 2015.
Traffic by country and geographical area
The five countries shipping the largest volume of goods through Valenciaport in were: Spain, with 8.48 million tonnes (+4.98%); China, with 6.76 million tonnes (+16.98%); Algeria, with 5.63 million tonnes (-2.73%); Italy, with 4.88 million tonnes (-3.08%); and the United States, with 4.37 million tonnes (-0.48%). In terms of geographical areas, the largest traffic volumes were with Mediterranean and Black Sea stands out with traffic of 19.38 million tonnes (-4.83%); and the Far East, with traffic of 9.85 million tonnes (+14.70%).