The unusual queue of trucks waiting their turn to load large bags of sugar at the Santa Lucía pier was a sign yesterday Wednesday that the arrival of the ship ‘Green Gem’, with the Panamanian flag, would mark a milestone in the Port of Cartagena . The 28,000 tons of this product that it was transporting and that the port operators began unloading in the morning are considered, until now, according to sources from the Cartagena Port Authority, the largest operation of this type of cargo carried out in the history of a European port.
Consigned by Agencia Marítima Blázquez, from Cartagena, the merchandise departed two weeks ago from Guatemala, in the center of the American continent, aboard the ship ‘Green Gem’ bound for the Port of Cartagena in an unloading that will last two weeks and will be distributed to Spain and Portugal by the Murcian logistics operator JJ Forwarder.
The Port of Cartagena is one of the three in Europe, together with Genoa and Rotterdam, capable of carrying out this operation of this food product.
Competitive prices
The local facilities want to become the gateway to Europe for refined sugar, thanks to the agility in operations, competitive prices, efficiency and food safety of the customs inspection and control services. This, according to port sources, “guarantees the competitiveness of agri-food companies in the Region.”
In recent years, the Port of Cartagena has been able to diversify its traffic by betting on scrap, wood, wind turbines and the ‘offshore’ industry to make Cartagena and the Region grow through operators and logistics companies.
It is one of the three European ports, along with Genoa and Rotterdam, capable of doing this type of operation
Precisely, as far as wind turbines are concerned, this traffic was consolidated last year among the new ones that diversify the flexibility of the Cartagena docks. By the end of 2022, more than 60,000 pieces were moved.
In 2022, the Port exceeded its import figures with close to 27 million tons moved and a growth of 27.38% compared to the previous year, repeating itself as the first importing port in Spain.
Freight traffic continues to rise during January
Freight traffic at the Port of Cartagena maintained the growth it experienced throughout the past year. Not 17%, as 2023 ended, but more than 3%, thanks, for the most part, to the arrival of liquid bulk. In total there were already 3.2 million tons. In this section, as usual, the movement of crude oil carried out by the Repsol refinery to manufacture its fuels stands out. Also noteworthy is the arrival of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG). They are followed by fuel oil and chemical products. Of the total tons moved, 2.3 were of these products. Solid bulk traffic was also important, especially cereals and flour, as well as feed and fodder. In this case, 503,396 tons were moved. What did drop was container traffic. In this case it fell by 38%. Last year it surpassed its all-time record by reaching 36.6 million tons, two more than in 2017, the year with the most movement at its docks since records began. So. There was an increase in all modalities, even in containers. The Port Authority hopes, at least, to reach those figures.
#Port #Cartagena #hosts #largest #unloading #sugar #Europe #truth