Vehicle traffic in Spanish ports in 2022: the year in review

Spanish ports handled 2.7 million new vehicles in 2022, 11.8% more than in 2021 (285,543 new vehicles 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 2017–2025 series is 2023, with 3.89 million new vehicles: 2022 was 30.6% below it and ranks 8th of the 9 years with data.

In the 2022 ranking, the ports moving up on 2021 are Valencia (from 3rd to 1st) and Santa Cruz de Tenerife (from 9th to 8th); those moving down are Vigo (from 1st to 3rd) and Las Palmas (from 8th to 9th).

Passenger vehicles (the cars carried on ferries): 6.25 million vehicles in 2022, 53.7% more than in 2021. Santa Cruz de Tenerife ranks first on this measure, with 1.72 million vehicles.

Valencia ranks first among port authorities with 598,868 new vehicles in 2022 (22.6% more than in 2021). It is followed by Barcelona (588,572 new vehicles) and Vigo (473,229 new vehicles). Together, the three account for 61.5% of the total.

The largest increases were recorded by Málaga (+34.4%), Tarragona (+27.0%) and Valencia (+22.6%); the steepest falls by Baleares (−18.4%), Las Palmas (−17.0%) and Vigo (−6.0%). 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 Santander (4th, 325,930 new vehicles, +17.3%), Pasaia (5th, 239,954 new vehicles, +14.6%), Tarragona (6th, 172,164 new vehicles, +27.0%), Baleares (7th, 99,220 new vehicles, −18.4%), Santa Cruz de Tenerife (8th, 58,498 new vehicles, +10.9%), Las Palmas (9th, 47,059 new vehicles, −17.0%) and Málaga (10th, 46,201 new vehicles, +34.4%).

At the bottom of the table are Marín y Ría de Pontevedra (15 new vehicles), Ferrol-San Cibrao (6 new vehicles) and Cartagena (5 new vehicles), out of a total of 28 port authorities with data.

The distribution is highly concentrated: the top five account for 82.4% of the total and 5 port authorities are enough to reach 80%, while the other 18 port authorities further down share the remaining 1.9%. 16 of the 25 port authorities with a comparison grew compared with 2021, 16 of them by double digits, and 9 fell.

Of the 12 months of 2022 with data, 9 are above the same month of 2021 and 3 below; over the last three months (October, November, December) the figure is up 30.6% on the same months of 2021; the largest year-on-year difference was in December (up 68.6%); the highest point in the series was December, at 322,933, and the lowest August, at 158,985.

Between 2017 and 2022 the figure went from 3.48 M to 2.7 M, a decrease of 22.4% over 5 years (−5.0% 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.