Barcelona in the black
Despite the impact of the pandemic, the Port of Barcelona closed its FY 2020 in the black with a result of EUR 17 million. The port generated a turnover of EUR 139 million over the year, down 20% from 2019’s level of EUR 172 million. This decrease is due mainly to the decline in total traffic, which led to a 25% reduction in fees for use.
Freight traffic experienced a sharp fall, particularly in April and May. However, this segment recovered little by little to end the year with double-digit increases both in total traffic, up 23% in December, and containers, up nearly 25%. Nonetheless, total traffic at the port in 2020 saw a 11.9% decrease to 59.5 million t.
Almost 3 million teu were handled, down 11% year on year. Movements of liquid bulk in 2020 amounted to 12.9 million t, falling 20% year on year. Dry bulk closed the year with movements in excess of 4 million t, a figure similar to that of 2019.
New car traffic, one of the segments most affected by the uncertainty and economic crisis arising from the pandemic, plummeted in 2020 (- 38%), with a total of 480,000 units moved.
Conventional cargo, which mostly includes ro-ro traffic, fell 16% to 347,000 itu. In this segment, itu transported by the motorways of the sea decreased only 2% (150,000 itu).
2020 closed with around 265,000 containers entering or leaving the port precinct by rail, which represents a year-on-year increase of 6% and pushes the rail's share of containers to a new record of 15%.
In all, 187,466 vehicles were transported by rail, marking another record market share of 42%. This mode of transport cut C02 emissions by 51,000 t in 2020, and removed 131,000 trucks from the roads. (cd)
www.portdebarcelona.cat/resultats2020