CONTAINER THROUGHPUT AT THE PORT OF VALENCIA IS AFFECTED BY GEOPOLITICAL AND INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC UNCERTAINTY

In the first 10 months of the year, container throughput at the port of Valencia was 4,336,957 TEUs, down 7.7% year-on-year. Similarly, container throughput at the other top three European ports were Antwerp, Rotterdam and Hamburg also declined.

The crisis in the world's major economies and the geopolitical situation is having an effect on traffic at the port of Valencia, Spain's premier logistics infrastructure serving import and export companies.

Specifically, in the first 10 months of the year, this situation was reflected in the decrease in the number of containers entering and leaving Valencia, especially transshipment containers. On the other hand, there has been a significant increase in liquid volumes, particularly for natural gas and bulk cargo.

Similar cases are being observed in the other three leading European ports. As of September, container throughput at the port of Antwerp fell by 5%, in Rotterdam by 4.4% and in Hamburg by 2.4%.

Thus, according to data from the Statistical Bulletin of the Port Authority of Valencia (PAV), the total volume of goods in circulation as of October was more than 67.72 million tons, down 4.5% over the same period last year. Of these, 48.4 million tons are containerized goods, recording a decrease of 9.9%, another 12.5 million tons are non-container goods, the same number as in fiscal year 2021. Liquid bulk was 4.86 million tons, up 61.3%, while dry bulk was 1.96 million tons, up 14.5%.

For containers, January through October totaled 4,336,957 TEUs, down 7.7% year-on-year. Following trends during these months, the biggest drop occurred for transshipment containers (those that are shipped between major ports and then delivered to final destination ports). For transshipment containers containing cargo, during this period, there was a 14% decrease, a decrease of more than 292,434 TEUs that were delivered to other Mediterranean ports. The number of containers containing goods (for export) was also affected, down 7.1%. Container unloading (imported) continued to record positive numbers with a growth of 6.2%. Empty containers decreased by 4.7% and transshipment containers decreased by 20.80% (down 71,943 containers).

In October, Bulletin data showed that total cargo traffic decreased by 15.4% and container volume by 17.8%, recording negative numbers for loading and unloading activities. On a yearly basis (November 2021 to October 2022), 81.64 million tons of cargo (down 4.6%) and 5,241,641 TEUs (down 7.4%) were handled. Again, it should be noted that transshipment containers, both full and empty, decreased by 435,392 containers during this period.