2017 total
155,631 merchant ship calls
First port · 2017
44,214 merchant ship calls
Series high, 2012–2025
170,944 merchant ship calls
Month with the highest figure
16,202 merchant ship calls
The 2017 balance
Spanish ports received 155,631 merchant ship calls in 2017, 2.7% more than in 2016 (4,067 merchant ship calls more). This is the year-end balance according to Puertos del Estado’s monthly statistics, with December data for the 28 port authorities.
The high point of the 2012–2025 series is 2019, with 170,944 merchant ship calls: 2017 was 9% below it and ranks 7th of the 14 years with data. At the end of 2017 it was the highest figure in the series, which starts in 2012; it was later exceeded in 2018, 2019, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025.
The top ten positions in the 2017 ranking are the same, and in the same order, as in 2016.
Baleares ranks first among port authorities with 44,214 merchant ship calls in 2017 (5.6% more than in 2016). It is followed by Bahía de Algeciras (28,249 merchant ship calls) and Santa Cruz de Tenerife (13,359 merchant ship calls). Together, the three account for 55.1% of the total.
The largest increases were recorded by Almería (+31.8%), Melilla (+17.5%) and Vigo (+11.5%); the steepest falls by Bahía de Algeciras (−4.8%) and Las Palmas (−0.9%). The comparison is limited to port authorities that account for at least 1% of the total, so that an extreme swing at a small player does not distort the picture.
The rest of the top ten are Las Palmas (4th, 11,446 merchant ship calls, −0.9%), Ceuta (5th, 10,772 merchant ship calls, +3.1%), Barcelona (6th, 8,974 merchant ship calls, +2.8%), Valencia (7th, 7,715 merchant ship calls, +0.2%), Bilbao (8th, 2,855 merchant ship calls, +1.4%), Tarragona (9th, 2,655 merchant ship calls, +0.5%) and Huelva (10th, 2,291 merchant ship calls, +4.6%).
At the bottom of the table are Avilés (829 merchant ship calls), Marín y Ría de Pontevedra (549 merchant ship calls) and Vilagarcía (323 merchant ship calls), out of a total of 28 port authorities with data.
The distribution is concentrated: the top five account for 69.4% of the total and 7 port authorities are enough to reach 80%, while the other 18 port authorities further down share the remaining 14.8%. 22 of the 28 port authorities with a comparison grew compared with 2016, 7 of them by double digits, and 6 fell.
Of the 12 months of 2017 with data, 10 are above the same month of 2016 and 2 below; over the last three months (October, November, December) the figure is up 3.1% on the same months of 2016; the largest year-on-year difference was in July (up 4.9%); the highest point in the series was August, at 16,202, and the lowest February, at 9,870.
Between 2012 and 2017 the figure went from 133,582 to 155,631, an increase of 16.5% over 5 years (+3.1% a year on average); the last year is the high point of the series and the low was 2013 (130,170).
Top 10 · Ranking of port authorities · 2017
Month by month · 2017 vs 2016
Annual series, 2012–2017
Full table · 28 port authorities · 2017
| # | Port authorities | 2017 | Change on 2016 | 2016 | Share | Profile |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Baleares | 44,214 | +5.6% | 41,871 | 28.4% | Port |
| 2 | Bahía de Algeciras | 28,249 | −4.8% | 29,681 | 18.2% | Port |
| 3 | Santa Cruz de Tenerife | 13,359 | +6.7% | 12,518 | 8.6% | Port |
| 4 | Las Palmas | 11,446 | −0.9% | 11,554 | 7.4% | Port |
| 5 | Ceuta | 10,772 | +3.1% | 10,444 | 6.9% | Port |
| 6 | Barcelona | 8,974 | +2.8% | 8,728 | 5.8% | Port |
| 7 | Valencia | 7,715 | +0.2% | 7,702 | 5.0% | Port |
| 8 | Bilbao | 2,855 | +1.4% | 2,815 | 1.8% | Port |
| 9 | Tarragona | 2,655 | +0.5% | 2,643 | 1.7% | Port |
| 10 | Huelva | 2,291 | +4.6% | 2,191 | 1.5% | Port |
| 11 | Cartagena | 2,127 | +11.5% | 1,908 | 1.4% | Port |
| 12 | Almería | 2,074 | +31.8% | 1,574 | 1.3% | Port |
| 13 | Melilla | 1,869 | +17.5% | 1,591 | 1.2% | Port |
| 14 | Vigo | 1,724 | +11.5% | 1,546 | 1.1% | Port |
| 15 | Castellón | 1,705 | +3.0% | 1,655 | 1.1% | Port |
| 16 | Málaga | 1,551 | +12.5% | 1,379 | 1.0% | Port |
| 17 | Santander | 1,522 | +7.7% | 1,413 | 1.0% | Port |
| 18 | Motril | 1,345 | +5.7% | 1,273 | 0.9% | Port |
| 19 | Gijón | 1,298 | +12.3% | 1,156 | 0.8% | Port |
| 20 | A Coruña | 1,195 | −1.2% | 1,209 | 0.8% | Port |
| 21 | Bahía de Cádiz | 1,149 | +20.4% | 954 | 0.7% | Port |
| 22 | Ferrol-San Cibrao | 1,108 | +5.1% | 1,054 | 0.7% | Port |
| 23 | Sevilla | 1,030 | −9.2% | 1,134 | 0.7% | Port |
| 24 | Pasaia | 865 | −13.0% | 994 | 0.6% | Port |
| 25 | Alicante | 838 | −9.2% | 923 | 0.5% | Port |
| 26 | Avilés | 829 | +0.6% | 824 | 0.5% | Port |
| 27 | Marín y Ría de Pontevedra | 549 | +3.8% | 529 | 0.4% | Port |
| 28 | Vilagarcía | 323 | +7.3% | 301 | 0.2% | Port |
What this indicator measures
Every month Puertos del Estado counts the merchant ships calling at each port authority: container ships, bulk carriers, tankers, ro-ro vessels, ferries and cruise ships. A call is one entry into port, so a scheduled ferry adds many calls a month. The number of calls measures a port’s service activity (pilotage, mooring, towage, stevedoring); ship size is measured separately, in gross tonnage (GT).
Frequently asked questions
Which was Spain’s first port by merchant ship calls in 2017?
Baleares, with 44,214 merchant ship calls in 2017, 28.4% of the total.
What was the merchant ship calls figure for Spanish ports in 2017?
155,631 merchant ship calls in 2017, 2.7% more than in 2016.
Was 2017 a record year?
At the time, yes: at the end of 2017, 155,631 merchant ship calls was the highest annual figure in the series, which starts in 2012. It was later exceeded in 2018, 2019, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025; the high point of the 2012–2025 series is 2019, with 170,944 merchant ship calls.
Source
Puertos del Estado. To explore the data in detail, use PortStats · ships by port or see the original source.