Definition
Dry bulk is dry cargo carried unpackaged, loose in the ship’s hold: cereals, coal, iron ore, cement and clinker, fertilisers, scrap metal or animal feed.
It is handled with grab cranes, conveyor belts, hoppers or suction systems, and needs large open yards or silos next to the quay. The statistics separate it from liquid bulk and general cargo.
Its traffic follows industry and agriculture: steelmaking, cement plants, power generation and harvests. A year of drought increases cereal imports, and the closure of coal-fired power stations has reduced an item that for decades was among the largest.
The figure · August 2026
Year to date · January–August 2026
52.8 million tonnes
August 2026 only
7.77 million tonnes
First port
6.36 million tonnes
Dry bulk in Spanish ports in 2026
Spanish ports handled 52.8 million tonnes of dry bulk traffic in the year to August 2026, 0.3% more than in the same period of 2025. In August alone, the figure was 7.77 million tonnes, 23.9% more than in August 2025.
The full ranking, the trend and the table are in the indicator Dry bulk in Spanish ports. To explore the data in detail, see PortStats · traffic by type of cargo, annual series.