Vehicle traffic in Spanish ports in 2024: the year in review

Spanish ports handled 3.67 million new vehicles in 2024, 5.8% less than in 2023 (224,883 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: 2024 was 5.8% below it and ranks 3rd of the 9 years with data.

In the 2024 ranking, the ports moving up on 2023 are Málaga (from 11th to 10th). The top three positions are unchanged.

Passenger vehicles (the cars carried on ferries): 7.23 million vehicles in 2024, 5.5% more than in 2023. Santa Cruz de Tenerife ranks first on this measure, with 1.8 million vehicles.

Barcelona ranks first among port authorities with 682,084 new vehicles in 2024 (13.7% less than in 2023). It is followed by Vigo (661,448 new vehicles) and Valencia (579,409 new vehicles). Together, the three account for 52.4% of the total.

The largest increases were recorded by Málaga (+38.9%), Baleares (+10.0%) and Santa Cruz de Tenerife (+9.0%); the steepest falls by Santander (−16.9%), Pasaia (−15.7%) and Barcelona (−13.7%). 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, 371,409 new vehicles, −16.9%), Las Palmas (5th, 359,799 new vehicles, −6.9%), Pasaia (6th, 242,034 new vehicles, −15.7%), Tarragona (7th, 221,731 new vehicles, +1.4%), Bilbao (8th, 140,207 new vehicles, +7.8%), Baleares (9th, 139,846 new vehicles, +10.0%) and Málaga (10th, 93,846 new vehicles, +38.9%).

At the bottom of the table are Vilagarcía (299 new vehicles), Gijón (90 new vehicles) and Ferrol-San Cibrao (1 new vehicles), out of a total of 28 port authorities with data.

The distribution is highly concentrated: the top five account for 72.3% of the total and 7 port authorities are enough to reach 80%, while the other 18 port authorities further down share the remaining 4.8%. 17 of the 26 port authorities with a comparison grew compared with 2023, 12 of them by double digits, and 9 fell.

Of the 12 months of 2024 with data, 5 are above the same month of 2023 and 7 below; over the last three months (October, November, December) the figure is down 0.4% on the same months of 2023; the largest year-on-year difference was in March (down 18.2%); the highest point in the series was October, at 354,211, and the lowest August, at 169,340.

Between 2017 and 2024 the figure went from 3.48 M to 3.67 M, an increase of 5.3% over 7 years (+0.7% a year on average). The best year was 2023 (3.89 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.