2024 total
166,129 merchant ship calls
First port · 2024
48,473 merchant ship calls
Series high, 2012–2025
170,944 merchant ship calls
Month with the highest figure
16,646 merchant ship calls
The 2024 balance
Spanish ports received 166,129 merchant ship calls in 2024, 1.2% more than in 2023 (1,914 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: 2024 was 2.8% below it and ranks 3rd of the 14 years with data.
In the 2024 ranking, the ports moving up on 2023 are Huelva (from 11th to 10th). The top three positions are unchanged.
Baleares ranks first among port authorities with 48,473 merchant ship calls in 2024 (1.4% less than in 2023). It is followed by Bahía de Algeciras (31,090 merchant ship calls) and Santa Cruz de Tenerife (17,014 merchant ship calls). Together, the three account for 58.1% of the total.
The largest increases were recorded by Las Palmas (+13.3%), Huelva (+6.8%) and Almería (+5.3%); the steepest falls by Barcelona (−4.4%), Tarragona (−4.0%) and Cartagena (−2.4%). 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, 14,433 merchant ship calls, +13.3%), Ceuta (5th, 10,290 merchant ship calls, +1.3%), Barcelona (6th, 8,383 merchant ship calls, −4.4%), Valencia (7th, 7,437 merchant ship calls, −1.8%), Bilbao (8th, 2,766 merchant ship calls, +0.9%), Tarragona (9th, 2,327 merchant ship calls, −4.0%) and Huelva (10th, 2,256 merchant ship calls, +6.8%).
At the bottom of the table are Avilés (795 merchant ship calls), Marín y Ría de Pontevedra (484 merchant ship calls) and Vilagarcía (381 merchant ship calls), out of a total of 28 port authorities with data.
The distribution is highly concentrated: the top five account for 73% of the total and 7 port authorities are enough to reach 80%, while the other 18 port authorities further down share the remaining 13%. 15 of the 28 port authorities with a comparison grew compared with 2023, 1 of them by double digits, and 13 fell.
Of the 12 months of 2024 with data, 7 are above the same month of 2023 and 5 below; over the last three months (October, November, December) the figure is up 2.5% on the same months of 2023; the largest year-on-year difference was in January (up 7.2%); the highest point in the series was August, at 16,646, and the lowest February, at 11,205.
Between 2012 and 2024 the figure went from 133,582 to 166,129, an increase of 24.4% over 12 years (+1.8% a year on average). The best year was 2019 (170,944) and the worst 2020 (117,829).
Top 10 · Ranking of port authorities · 2024
Month by month · 2024 vs 2023
Annual series, 2012–2024
Full table · 28 port authorities · 2024
| # | Port authorities | 2024 | Change on 2023 | 2023 | Share | Profile |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Baleares | 48,473 | −1.4% | 49,179 | 29.2% | Port |
| 2 | Bahía de Algeciras | 31,090 | +3.9% | 29,915 | 18.7% | Port |
| 3 | Santa Cruz de Tenerife | 17,014 | +2.7% | 16,568 | 10.2% | Port |
| 4 | Las Palmas | 14,433 | +13.3% | 12,743 | 8.7% | Port |
| 5 | Ceuta | 10,290 | +1.3% | 10,159 | 6.2% | Port |
| 6 | Barcelona | 8,383 | −4.4% | 8,766 | 5.0% | Port |
| 7 | Valencia | 7,437 | −1.8% | 7,575 | 4.5% | Port |
| 8 | Bilbao | 2,766 | +0.9% | 2,740 | 1.7% | Port |
| 9 | Tarragona | 2,327 | −4.0% | 2,424 | 1.4% | Port |
| 10 | Huelva | 2,256 | +6.8% | 2,112 | 1.4% | Port |
| 11 | Cartagena | 2,149 | −2.4% | 2,201 | 1.3% | Port |
| 12 | Almería | 2,031 | +5.3% | 1,929 | 1.2% | Port |
| 13 | Vigo | 1,914 | +0.3% | 1,908 | 1.2% | Port |
| 14 | Málaga | 1,552 | −10.6% | 1,736 | 0.9% | Port |
| 15 | Bahía de Cádiz | 1,522 | −3.4% | 1,576 | 0.9% | Port |
| 16 | Santander | 1,511 | −3.2% | 1,561 | 0.9% | Port |
| 17 | Castellón | 1,332 | +4.3% | 1,277 | 0.8% | Port |
| 18 | Melilla | 1,284 | +1.4% | 1,266 | 0.8% | Port |
| 19 | A Coruña | 1,135 | +3.8% | 1,093 | 0.7% | Port |
| 20 | Gijón | 1,128 | −4.2% | 1,178 | 0.7% | Port |
| 21 | Motril | 986 | −5.1% | 1,039 | 0.6% | Port |
| 22 | Sevilla | 925 | +2.8% | 900 | 0.6% | Port |
| 23 | Pasaia | 891 | −3.6% | 924 | 0.5% | Port |
| 24 | Ferrol-San Cibrao | 820 | −14.2% | 956 | 0.5% | Port |
| 25 | Alicante | 820 | −6.1% | 873 | 0.5% | Port |
| 26 | Avilés | 795 | +2.6% | 775 | 0.5% | Port |
| 27 | Marín y Ría de Pontevedra | 484 | +4.8% | 462 | 0.3% | Port |
| 28 | Vilagarcía | 381 | +0.3% | 380 | 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 2024?
Baleares, with 48,473 merchant ship calls in 2024, 29.2% of the total.
What was the merchant ship calls figure for Spanish ports in 2024?
166,129 merchant ship calls in 2024, 1.2% more than in 2023.
Was 2024 a record year?
No: the high point of the 2012–2025 series is 2019, with 170,944 merchant ship calls; 2024 was 2.8% below it.
Source
Puertos del Estado. To explore the data in detail, use PortStats · ships by port or see the original source.