Increased transhipment traffic adding to congestion woes at Barcelona – The Loadstar

One of the key reasons why Barcelona appears to be suffering higher levels of congestion than many regional competitors is an almost toxic combination of increased transshipment traffic in addition to its role as a gateway for local traffic.

"Growth in transshipment would be one thing, if it weren't also for the inbound traffic that the port handles; it can be really difficult for a terminal operator when those two suddenly come together," said Xeneta chief analyst Peter Sand. The loading star on the sidelines of last week's TOC Europe 24 event in Rotterdam.

Jordi Torrent, strategy director at the Barcelona Port Authority, said congestion had become so bad for some importers that "we are now seeing some products leaving the container market and returning to bulk shipping, such as low-value chemicals.

However, at the same time, he said new types of containerized products are being marketed, such as the growing number of imported Chinese electric vehicles.

Mr. Torrent said The loading star: “Last year 30,000 cars arrived in Barcelona in containers, which is about 10,000 containers in total. “It’s pretty much the same level this year, maybe less.”

He added that the port had been handling larger vessels in recent years, which had led to a much higher number of container exchanges per call.

"Very often we do exchanges of 10,000 to 12,000 containers in one stopover," he said.

This is reflected in a more than 25% year-on-year increase in throughput at the three Barcelona terminals, which now stands at just under 1.3 million TEU, compared to just over 1 million TEU a year ago. this time last year, he said.

“All this growth is transshipment to the eastern Mediterranean. Traffic from Turkey to the western Mediterranean is also increasing a lot, as is Morocco, and Inditex is moving an increasing number of containers through Barcelona. As a result, we are facing levels of congestion that we have not seen before,” Torrent added.

According to the eeSea shipping lines database, today around 54% of vessels are waiting for a berth in Barcelona, ​​compared to 46% in Valencia, 43% in Algeciras and 38% in Tangier Med.

"We do not have space to maneuver containers around the shipyards, although we are also trying to create inland locations to increase capacity," explained Mr Torrent.

Meanwhile, in response to the blockages, Barcelona container terminal operators have extended their entry hours and hired more stevedores, while introducing "measures to encourage freight forwarders and carriers to evacuate containers from the terminal earlier." terminal, especially the empty ones".

"Sometimes we also give priority docking to larger vessels rather than operating on a traditional first-come, first-served basis," Torrent said.