The situation of geopolitical instability around the Red Sea, marked by armed conflicts and the consequences of the pandemic, has boosted the activity of Spanish ports to handle part of the traffic that other ports are not prepared to accommodate.
Since January 2024, shipping groups have been forced to divert their ships around the Cape of Good Hope, with a considerable impact on several key aspects of maritime transport such as transit time or cost, according to an analysis by Ocean Capital Partners (OCP), an international firm specialized in the port sector based in Madrid.
This reorientation of global maritime transport has turned the tables for some of the ports located on emerging routes, such as the African ports located along the Cape of Good Hope.
However, not all African port facilities are prepared to handle additional calls and larger ships, and much of the new activity has had to be absorbed by other ports along the Atlantic route, among which are the Spanish ones. .
Specifically, the docks of the Canary Islands and Ceuta, which have contributed above all to the fuel refueling service for deep-draft vessels. On the other hand, locations such as Algeciras, Valencia and Barcelona have emerged as key redistribution platforms in container transit in order to connect these lines with the rest of the Mediterranean Sea and the ports where the ships that previously passed through through the Suez Canal.
All of this has caused merchandise traffic in Spanish ports to grow by 3.4% in the first half, with general merchandise increasing by 7.7% and container traffic, by 10.6%.
“Spanish ports must take advantage of their strategic geographical position to consolidate their role in the market of the main global maritime routes”
Barcelona accumulated the sharpest increase, with 17% more container traffic, followed by Valencia – which is first by volume – with 10% more, and Algeciras, with a growth of almost 8%.
“Spanish ports must take advantage of their strategic geographical position to consolidate their role in the market of the main global maritime routes. Now it is essential to apply logistical solutions that allow them to successfully manage the increase in freight transit in the long term,” points out the OCP analysis collected by EFE.
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