Definition
General cargo is all cargo carried in units, packages or pieces rather than in bulk. It is divided into containerised cargo, which travels in containers, and conventional cargo, which includes ro-ro cargo, steel products, timber, vehicles or project cargo.
It is the cargo type with the highest value per tonne and the one that generates the most employment in the port, because it requires more handling than bulk. In the Puertos del Estado statistics it is one of the three main items of cargo traffic.
Within it, the container accounts for most of the weight. The rest, conventional cargo, is very varied and depends on the industry of each area: cars, steel coils, pallets of fruit, wind turbine components or lorries boarding a ferry.
The figure · August 2026
Year to date · January–August 2026
186.4 million tonnes
August 2026 only
22.3 million tonnes
First port
48.4 million tonnes
Of which, containerised cargo
126.6 million tonnes
General cargo in Spanish ports in 2026
Spanish ports handled 186.4 million tonnes of general cargo traffic in the year to August 2026, 1% less than in the same period of 2025. In August alone, the figure was 22.3 million tonnes, 0.5% more than in August 2025.
The full ranking, the trend and the table are in the indicator General cargo in Spanish ports. To explore the data in detail, see PortStats · general cargo by type, annual series.