Snow and frost in northern Europe boost the export of salt from Torrevieja

If something is not going unnoticed in Torrevieja in recent weeks, it is that the port is experiencing higher activity than usual. In just two weeks, three large-tonnage ships have entered the salt dock in search of the crystalline mineral. Sodium chloride from Torrevieja is trading high at this time when northern Europe is shivering with temperatures that in Scandinavia reach 20 degrees below zero in the main cities. The Nordics do not want to be cut off, their roads need salt and one of the ports that can supply it more quickly and urgently is Torrevieja.

Laguna Rosa is owned by the State and is operated under a concession by the company Nueva Compañía Arrendataria de las Salinas de Torrevieja (Ncast), part of the French group Salins. The industrial director of the Torrevieja complex, Joseph Pérez, recognizes that these last few days have been one of frenetic activity on the Poniente dam, also known as the salt dock. Huge quantities of the mineral are leaving via the conveyor belt from the garberas on the shores of the lagoon, destined mainly for England, Ireland, Scotland, Norway, Sweden and Finland. Also to Iceland, where 16,000 tons have already been sent in just two ships.

Pérez estimates that this year around 150,000 tons will be exported, of which only 100,000 are expected to leave between this January and last December. «They tend to be very similar every year, but this year we do expect it to be somewhat higher than last year, about 15,000 or 20,000 tons more. The same thing we can load in a week,” says Pérez.

The pace of arrivals at the mouth of the port is good proof of this. «This week three ships have been loaded; Last Friday the last one was loaded and for this next week they expect the arrival of three more. Piecework and demand, always ready to deal with any unforeseen storm thousands of kilometers to the north. Thus they resign themselves to working in the salt mine.

To maintain that level these weeks, fortunately, Torrevieja plays with an advantage that other ports do not have: its own facilities. With a specific dock for loading salt, the ships do not have to wait to be positioned and get their turn, but rather the attention is immediate. Only this is not the case when several vessels arrive in port at the same time as has happened these days. In that case, at most they will have to spend a day anchored in the 'ballast stone', in front of the Levante dock and outside the port area.

Little sale in Spain

Although work is being done to diversify the clientele, 80% of what is exported from Torrevieja, Pérez acknowledges, is still for defrosting, 60% of the total sold. A use that, precisely at the national level, is being especially scarce. “We are loading trucks, but much less than normal.” Above all, he remembers, in comparison with the 'Filomena storm' of 2021. That time, according to Pérez, the maximum amount of snow sold for thawing in Spain was recorded.

An event that, if by some chance it were to happen again, would not diminish the response capacity of the Torrevieja salt flats, since, according to the director, there are currently some 300,000 tons in stock in the garberas. “In Spain, a normal winter takes only about 30,000 or 40,000 tons.”

At a climatological level, in addition, the perfect conditions have come together to raise this storage fund, unlike in previous years where the intrusion of fresh water after episodes of torrential rains has reduced the harvest. “The salt flats need sun and wind, and this year we have had both,” he says.