Ro-ro traffic in Spanish ports in 2022: the year in review

Spanish ports handled 70.9 million tonnes of ro-ro traffic in 2022, 8.6% more than in 2021 (5.61 million 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 2025, with 74.7 million tonnes: 2022 was 5.1% below it and ranks 4th of the 14 years with data. At the end of 2022 it was the highest figure in the series, which starts in 2012; it was later exceeded in 2023, 2024 and 2025.

In the 2022 ranking, the ports moving up on 2021 are Bahía de Algeciras (from 3rd to 1st) and Bilbao (from 9th to 8th); those moving down are Valencia (from 1st to 3rd) and Vigo (from 8th to 9th).

Bahía de Algeciras ranks first among port authorities with 14.5 million tonnes in 2022 (24% more than in 2021). It is followed by Baleares (13.4 million) and Valencia (12.9 million). Together, the three account for 57.6% of the total.

The largest increases were recorded by Bahía de Algeciras (+24.0%), Las Palmas (+17.1%) and Bilbao (+16.4%); the steepest falls by Vigo (−8.1%), Santander (−5.0%) and Almería (−3.0%). 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 Barcelona (4th, 11.6 million, +4.8%), Las Palmas (5th, 4.73 million, +17.1%), Santa Cruz de Tenerife (6th, 3.98 million, +5.5%), Santander (7th, 2.31 million, −5.0%), Bilbao (8th, 1.04 million, +16.4%), Vigo (9th, 984,582 tonnes, −8.1%) and Almería (10th, 830,848 tonnes, −3.0%).

At the bottom of the table are Ferrol-San Cibrao (23,857 tonnes), Vilagarcía (7,061 tonnes) and Avilés (210 tonnes), out of a total of 28 port authorities with data.

The distribution is highly concentrated: the top five account for 80.7% of the total and 5 port authorities are enough to reach 80%, while the other 18 port authorities further down share the remaining 6.4%. 13 of the 23 port authorities with a comparison grew compared with 2021, 8 of them by double digits, and 10 fell.

Of the 12 months of 2022 with data, 10 are above the same month of 2021 and 2 below; over the last three months (October, November, December) the figure is down 0.7% on the same months of 2021; the largest year-on-year difference was in May (up 19.4%); the highest point in the series was May, at 6.82 M, and the lowest January, at 5.31 M.

Between 2012 and 2022 the figure went from 41.7 M to 70.9 M, an increase of 70.1% over 10 years (+5.5% a year on average); the last year is the high point of the series and the low was 2012 (41.7 M).

Ro-ro (roll-on/roll-off) traffic is cargo that is driven on and off the ship: lorries, trailers, platforms and new vehicles. Puertos del Estado measures it in tonnes and in ITUs (intermodal transport units: each lorry, trailer or platform counts as one). It is the traffic of the Motorways of the Sea and of the lines to the Balearic and Canary Islands and North Africa.

Puertos del Estado. To explore the data in detail, use PortStats · ro-ro traffic by port, annual series or see the original source.