2021 total
138,889 merchant ship calls
First port · 2021
43,635 merchant ship calls
Series high, 2012–2025
170,944 merchant ship calls
Month with the highest figure
14,404 merchant ship calls
The 2021 balance
Spanish ports received 138,889 merchant ship calls in 2021, 17.9% more than in 2020 (21,060 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: 2021 was 18.8% below it and ranks 10th of the 14 years with data.
In the 2021 ranking, the ports moving up on 2020 are Barcelona (from 7th to 6th) and Tarragona (from 10th to 9th); those moving down are Valencia (from 6th to 7th) and Huelva (from 9th to 10th). The top three positions are unchanged.
Baleares ranks first among port authorities with 43,635 merchant ship calls in 2021 (43.1% more than in 2020). It is followed by Bahía de Algeciras (19,519 merchant ship calls) and Santa Cruz de Tenerife (14,167 merchant ship calls). Together, the three account for 55.7% of the total.
The largest increases were recorded by Baleares (+43.1%), Bahía de Cádiz (+40.7%) and Tarragona (+19.6%). 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, 11,809 merchant ship calls, +4.8%), Ceuta (5th, 7,783 merchant ship calls, +7.8%), Barcelona (6th, 7,518 merchant ship calls, +11.8%), Valencia (7th, 7,295 merchant ship calls, +6.5%), Bilbao (8th, 2,669 merchant ship calls, +14.2%), Tarragona (9th, 2,618 merchant ship calls, +19.6%) and Huelva (10th, 2,265 merchant ship calls, +2.2%).
At the bottom of the table are Alicante (504 merchant ship calls), Marín y Ría de Pontevedra (453 merchant ship calls) and Vilagarcía (407 merchant ship calls), out of a total of 28 port authorities with data.
The distribution is concentrated: the top five account for 69.8% of the total and 7 port authorities are enough to reach 80%, while the other 18 port authorities further down share the remaining 14.1%. 27 of the 28 port authorities with a comparison grew compared with 2020, 11 of them by double digits, and 1 fell.
Of the 12 months of 2021 with data, 10 are above the same month of 2020 and 2 below; over the last three months (October, November, December) the figure is up 17.6% on the same months of 2020; the largest year-on-year difference was in May (up 79.9%); the highest point in the series was July, at 14,404, and the lowest February, at 8,547.
Between 2012 and 2021 the figure went from 133,582 to 138,889, an increase of 4% over 9 years (+0.4% a year on average). The best year was 2019 (170,944) and the worst 2020 (117,829).
Top 10 · Ranking of port authorities · 2021
Month by month · 2021 vs 2020
Annual series, 2012–2021
Full table · 28 port authorities · 2021
| # | Port authorities | 2021 | Change on 2020 | 2020 | Share | Profile |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Baleares | 43,635 | +43.1% | 30,494 | 31.4% | Port |
| 2 | Bahía de Algeciras | 19,519 | +6.5% | 18,322 | 14.1% | Port |
| 3 | Santa Cruz de Tenerife | 14,167 | +16.7% | 12,143 | 10.2% | Port |
| 4 | Las Palmas | 11,809 | +4.8% | 11,271 | 8.5% | Port |
| 5 | Ceuta | 7,783 | +7.8% | 7,219 | 5.6% | Port |
| 6 | Barcelona | 7,518 | +11.8% | 6,724 | 5.4% | Port |
| 7 | Valencia | 7,295 | +6.5% | 6,851 | 5.3% | Port |
| 8 | Bilbao | 2,669 | +14.2% | 2,338 | 1.9% | Port |
| 9 | Tarragona | 2,618 | +19.6% | 2,189 | 1.9% | Port |
| 10 | Huelva | 2,265 | +2.2% | 2,216 | 1.6% | Port |
| 11 | Cartagena | 2,078 | +4.8% | 1,982 | 1.5% | Port |
| 12 | Castellón | 1,666 | +2.3% | 1,629 | 1.2% | Port |
| 13 | Vigo | 1,580 | +2.5% | 1,542 | 1.1% | Port |
| 14 | Santander | 1,561 | +17.5% | 1,329 | 1.1% | Port |
| 15 | Bahía de Cádiz | 1,518 | +40.7% | 1,079 | 1.1% | Port |
| 16 | Almería | 1,289 | +6.3% | 1,213 | 0.9% | Port |
| 17 | Gijón | 1,186 | +5.2% | 1,127 | 0.9% | Port |
| 18 | Málaga | 1,145 | +3.8% | 1,103 | 0.8% | Port |
| 19 | Ferrol-San Cibrao | 1,021 | +1.9% | 1,002 | 0.7% | Port |
| 20 | Pasaia | 967 | +14.3% | 846 | 0.7% | Port |
| 21 | Sevilla | 955 | +0.7% | 948 | 0.7% | Port |
| 22 | Melilla | 948 | +4.8% | 905 | 0.7% | Port |
| 23 | A Coruña | 938 | +11.5% | 841 | 0.7% | Port |
| 24 | Avilés | 831 | +20.4% | 690 | 0.6% | Port |
| 25 | Motril | 564 | +8.0% | 522 | 0.4% | Port |
| 26 | Alicante | 504 | −7.7% | 546 | 0.4% | Port |
| 27 | Marín y Ría de Pontevedra | 453 | +2.3% | 443 | 0.3% | Port |
| 28 | Vilagarcía | 407 | +29.2% | 315 | 0.3% | 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 2021?
Baleares, with 43,635 merchant ship calls in 2021, 31.4% of the total.
What was the merchant ship calls figure for Spanish ports in 2021?
138,889 merchant ship calls in 2021, 17.9% more than in 2020.
Was 2021 a record year?
No: the high point of the 2012–2025 series is 2019, with 170,944 merchant ship calls; 2021 was 18.8% below it.
Source
Puertos del Estado. To explore the data in detail, use PortStats · ships by port or see the original source.