Short sea shipping is back
In Spain, shortsea shipping volumes are beginning to recover and returning to the level prior to the Covid-19 crisis in Q1/2021 compared to the same period in 2019 and 2020. According to the report from SPC Spain, international ro-ro traffic (excluding freight vehicles) registered 5.97 million t transported in Q1/2021, with an increase of 5.6% compared to the same period last year and 4.9% compared to 2019.
The Atlantic trade registered a significant increase of 11%, (11.9% compared to 2019) and a moderate one in the Mediterranean, with 4.8% (3.9% compared to 2019).The growth in traffic with France (77.4%), which is close to the 2019 figure, and with Belgium (7.0%) is particularly strong.
In contrast, traffic with Finland dropped by 11%, while volumes to and from UK declined by 8.5%. The Irish trade has become particularly significant since the implementation of direct services from Ireland to the ports of Bilbao and Santander, as a result of Brexit.
On the Mediterranean side, traffic with Italy grew by 14.1%, recovering to the level of 2019, while traffic with Morocco shows a decline of 2.2%. The report indicates the appearance of traffic flows with Turkey, thanks to the recent creation of a Turkish service from the port of Tarragona.
In total, Q1/2021 saw 64 million of t moved, a slight increase over last year (0.3%), but not yet reaching the figures of 2019 (-1.5%). (cd)
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