Strong increase in external trade at the Port of Barcelona, showing double-digit growth

The Port of Barcelona has closed the first half-year of 2025, a period marked by the acceleration of strategic investments and the growth of external trade. In terms of traffic segments, at the presentation of the results of the first six months of the year, Port of Barcelona General Manager Àlex Garcia today highlighted the strong performance of full export and import containers, which totalled 721,461 TEUs and registered a combined increase of 10%, compared to the first half of 2024. Turning to exports, full container numbers grew 8% (365,062 TEUs) and there were notable increases in pork, alfalfa and the Algerian market. The 12% growth in exports (356,399 TEUs) was mainly concentrated in Asia.

The Port of Barcelona's General Manager highlighted that this “extraordinary growth in external trade once again shows the resilience of the economy of the Port of Barcelona’s hinterland and the excellent work done by our companies in foreign markets.” The positive trend in external trade traffic was vital to improving the Port of Barcelona's economic results during the first half of 2025. The notable increase in export and import containers made a decisive contribution to the uptick in turnover, which stood at €101 million, up 4% year on year. Specifically, the growth in export and import containers contributed one million euros to turnover.

Liquid bulk also performed well, totalling 8.25 million tonnes and registering an increase of 22.1%. This noteworthy growth is due mainly to transits and imports of gasoline and liquefied natural gas (LNG). Dry bulk movements amounted to 1.82 million tonnes (-21.9%). The decline in this segment was due to the poor performance of cereal and flour imports due to good harvests and the technical shutdown for maintenance of the Elian terminal.

New vehicle traffic suffered a correction of 6.5% to 362,951 units, impacted by the decline in exports and traffic. However, imports (+7%) and cabotage (+11%) showed positive behaviour at the beginning of the year. ITUs (Intermodal Transport Units) remained the same as in 2024, with 218,237 units handled.

All of these figures add up to total traffic of 34.68 million tonnes registered at the Port of Barcelona during the first half of the year (-3.2%).

In terms of passenger numbers, 652,782 people travelled by ferry (-1.4%). 1.69 million cruise passengers passed through the port (+15.7%) which translates into one million people visiting the city (+12.9%).

€314.5 million in tenders

At the end of this half-year, the Port of Barcelona had put out to tender 95% of the large investments planned for the entire year. 314.5 million of the €332.5 million planned for the whole of 2025 have already been put out to tender.

This group of tenders corresponds to the Catalunya wharf precincts in phase one (€94 million tendered, awarded for €72.3 million); phase four of the Adossat wharf, where the third ferry terminal will be located (€60 million tendered, awarded for €54.7 million) and the new wharf superstructure where cruise Terminal G will be located, while the capacity of the bollards and fenders will be increased to provide greater operability, versatility and safety for ship docking (currently out to tender for €6 million); the new berthing points 34C, 34D and 34E for liquid bulk on the east side of the Energy wharf (out to tender for €124 million); building and commissioning the first OPS for cruise ships, which will serve the MSC Cruises terminal (tendered for €14 million and awarded for €12.2 million), and the first phase of access to the Nou Llobregat area, specifically building the track superstructure that will allow the operation and functioning of the new railway access. The tender for this last action (€18 million) was green-lighted yesterday by the Port's Management Board.

“The only major works project still left to tender this year involves building the new medium-voltage electrical infrastructure that will supply energy to the Adossat wharf. These are two independent lines. One will supply electricity to the OPS on this wharf, from the Port substation, currently under construction. The second, originating from the Cerdà substation, will power the new terminals of this wharf and reinforce the supply of the area, which is currently provided by a single point to the north. This involves an investment of around €16 million which is likely to be authorised by the Management Board in September,” said Port of Barcelona President José Alberto Carbonell during the press conference to review the first half of the year, held this morning.

The President listed the main actions performed during the first months of the year and highlighted those aimed at decarbonising activity, such as the entry into service of the OPS for ferries at the Sant Bertran wharf or the start of work to install the OPS at the MSC cruise terminal. In terms of environmental sustainability, José Alberto Carbonell announced that the Port of Barcelona's first Energy Transition Plan has been approved by the Management Board and will be presented soon. “A few years ago we established the strategic objective of decarbonising port activity and defined the measures and actions for achieving it. It had now become necessary to move from formalising particular projects to designing strategic planning involving an orderly and structured time line for all the effective actions to attain the objectives in accordance with the characteristics of our port system and its needs. This work translates into the new Energy Transition Plan, a plan for the future that will make the Port of Barcelona genuinely carbon-zero”, explained the president.

During the first half of the year, the Port also made significant progress in opening new spaces for the public, such as the Fisherman's and Barcelona North wharves; it successfully held its second Open Day, bringing together over 15,000 people, and has now become an annual event with the public, while continuing to promote innovation development. In this connection, the president recalled that the awarding of the third vehicle terminal to the Japanese company NYK will allow the Port of Barcelona to have the first automatic vehicle silo in Europe and the second in the world. The intelligent design of this fully-automated multi-level parking system will lead to a reduction in human error, minimising the risk of accidents and ensuring high efficiency in operations and improved safety. The terminal will incorporate a solar energy system with capacity to generate around 3,211 MWh annually, using the electricity produced to reduce the environmental impact of its activity.

You can find the presentation of the balance sheet for the first half of 2025 here.