Spain's Barcelona Port reports increase in external trade in H1 2025; growth in container, dry bulk and liquid cargo segments

Spain's Port of Barcelona has closed the first half of 2025, a period the port said is, "marked by the acceleration of strategic investments and the growth of external trade."

Port of Barcelona General Manager Àlex Garcia highlighted the "strong performance" of full export and import containers, which totalled 721,461 TEUs and registered a combined increase of 10 per cent, compared to the first half of 2024.

With regard to exports, full container numbers grew eight per cent (365,062 TEUs), and there were notable increases in pork, alfalfa and the Algerian market. The 12 per cent growth in exports (356,399 TEUs) was mainly concentrated in Asia.

Garcia highlighted that this “extraordinary growth in external trade," is due to, "the resilience of the economy of the Port of Barcelona’s hinterland and the excellent work done by our companies in foreign markets."

The increase in export and import containers contributed to the uptick in turnover, which stood at €101 million (US$118 milion), up four per cent year-on-year. Specifically, the growth in export and import containers contributed €1 million (US$1.2 million) to turnover.

Liquid bulk meanwhile totalled 8.25 million tonnes and registered an increase of 22.1 per cent. The port said the growth is due mainly to transits and imports of petrol and LNG.

Dry bulk movements amounted to 1.82 million tonnes, a decrease of 21.9 per cent. The port said the decline in this segment was due to the poor performance of cereal and flour imports due to good harvests and the technical shutdown for maintenance of the Elian terminal.

New vehicle traffic dropped by 6.5 per cent to 362,951 units, having been impacted by the decline in exports and traffic. However, imports (up seven per cent) and cabotage (up 11 per cent) showed positive behaviour at the beginning of the year. Intermodal transport units remained the same as in 2024, with 218,237 units handled.

All of these figures add up to total traffic of 34.68 million tonnes registered at the Port of Barcelona during H1 2025 (down by 3.2 per cent).

In terms of passenger numbers, 652,782 people travelled by ferry (down 1.4 per cent). Around 1.69 million cruise passengers passed through the port (up 15.7 per cent), which translates into one million people visiting the city (up 12.9 per cent), according to the port.