Vehicle traffic in Spanish ports in 2021: the year in review

Spanish ports handled 2.42 million new vehicles in 2021, 15.7% less than in 2020 (448,711 new vehicles less). 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 2017–2025 series is 2023, with 3.89 million new vehicles: 2021 was 37.9% below it and ranks 9th of the 9 years with data. It is the lowest figure in the whole series.

In the 2021 ranking, the ports moving up on 2020 are Vigo (from 3rd to 1st); those moving down are Barcelona (from 1st to 2nd) and Valencia (from 2nd to 3rd).

Passenger vehicles (the cars carried on ferries): 4.07 million vehicles in 2021, 29.9% more than in 2020. Santa Cruz de Tenerife ranks first on this measure, with 1.49 million vehicles.

Vigo ranks first among port authorities with 503,295 new vehicles in 2021 (1.7% less than in 2020). It is followed by Barcelona (497,283 new vehicles) and Valencia (488,665 new vehicles). Together, the three account for 61.6% of the total.

The largest increases were recorded by Baleares (+14.6%) and Tarragona (+5.8%); the steepest falls by Barcelona (−39.0%), Santander (−14.4%) and Santa Cruz de Tenerife (−11.5%). 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 Santander (4th, 277,783 new vehicles, −14.4%), Pasaia (5th, 209,454 new vehicles, −11.4%), Tarragona (6th, 135,600 new vehicles, +5.8%), Baleares (7th, 121,577 new vehicles, +14.6%), Las Palmas (8th, 56,668 new vehicles, −9.7%), Santa Cruz de Tenerife (9th, 52,759 new vehicles, −11.5%) and Málaga (10th, 34,377 new vehicles, −4.4%).

At the bottom of the table are Cartagena (43 new vehicles), Motril (16 new vehicles) and Ferrol-San Cibrao (11 new vehicles), out of a total of 28 port authorities with data.

The distribution is highly concentrated: the top five account for 81.8% of the total and 5 port authorities are enough to reach 80%, while the other 18 port authorities further down share the remaining 1.6%. 6 of the 24 port authorities with a comparison grew compared with 2020, 4 of them by double digits, and 18 fell.

Of the 12 months of 2021 with data, 4 are above the same month of 2020 and 8 below; over the last three months (October, November, December) the figure is down 18.4% on the same months of 2020; the largest year-on-year difference was in April (up 281.1%); the highest point in the series was March, at 255,824, and the lowest August, at 105,967.

Between 2017 and 2021 the figure went from 3.48 M to 2.42 M, a decrease of 30.6% over 4 years (−8.7% a year on average). The best year was 2018 (3.49 M) and the worst 2021 (2.42 M).

Puertos del Estado separates vehicles shipped as cargo (new vehicles exported or imported on car carriers or ro-ro ships) from vehicles travelling with passengers (the cars of ferry travellers). The first measures automotive industry logistics; the second follows passenger traffic to the Balearic and Canary Islands and across the Strait.

Puertos del Estado. To explore the data in detail, use PortStats · vehicles as cargo, annual series or see the original source.