TOTAL TRAFFICKING OF GOODS IN THE PORTS OF THE BALEARIC ISLANDS INCREASES 3 PER CENT IN THE FIRST SIXTH MONTHS OF 2019

TOTAL TRAFFICKING OF GOODS IN THE PORTS OF THE BALEARIC ISLANDS INCREASES 3 PER CENT IN THE FIRST SIXTH MONTHS OF 2019

Palma

09/08/2019

The total trafficking of goods in the ports of general interest in the Balearic Islands has increased 3 per cent in the first half of 2019, in relation to the same period last year, with more than 8.9 million tonnes registered. As far as human trafficking is concerned, the number of movements increased 5 per cent, exceeding 3.5 million.

According to the statistics of the month of June published in www.portsdebalears.com, Mahon's port registered the greatest increase of 15%, reaching 365,542 tonnes. It is followed by Ibiza (6% and 1,646,163 t), Palma (5% and 5,240,558 t), la Savina (-6% and 141,292 t) and Alcudia (-8% and 929,691 t).

For general goods, that is to say, consumer products, the total increase was 6% with 6,841,700 tonnes. Mahon also leads with the growth of this first half-year being 15 per cent and 254,810 tonnes, followed by Palma (7% and 4,584,253 t), Ibiza (7% and 1,503,954 t), Alcudia (-8% and 367,198 t) and la Savina (-8% and 131,503 t).

The widespread decrease in trafficking of bulk liquids (mainly fuels) stands out, with a drop of 12 per cent in relation to the first half of 2018. In this section only the port of Ibiza has seen a rise in trafficking with an increase of 2 per cent, reaching almost 92,000 tonnes. Meanwhile trafficking of bulk solids (basically cement and other construction materials) has generally remained stable but with large differences between ports. It increased 165 per cent in Mahon with 24,676 tonnes, in Palma (53% and 140,401 t) and in la Savina (28% and 9,789 t), whilst it has fallen in Ibiza (-19% and 50,337 t) and in Alcudia (-9% and 532,966 t), above all due to a decrease in coal unloading.

Regular people trafficking has grown

The number of passengers increased 5 per cent from January to June 2019 in relation to the same period last year, exceeding 3.5 million passengers. The number of scheduled passengers also increased 5 per cent, with more than 2.5 million so for this year (2.3 million if we do not count freight car drivers). All of the ports increased in this section, with the exception of la Savina’s port (-2% and 784.481 people). Mahon registered the greatest increase (61% and 41,588 people), followed by Alcudia (15% and 214,583 people). - where scheduled open movement with the South of France, Palma (14% and 477,346 people) and Ibiza (4% and 1,050,321 people) is reflected. The number of cruise ship passengers also grew (4%) with a total of a million passengers up until now in all general interest ports in the Balearic Islands, but with very erratic behaviours: sharp falls in Mahon’s port (-66% and 12,232 people) and Alcudia (-50% and 673 people) and rises in Ibiza (23% and 116,664 people) and Palma (5% and 872,893 people).

In all of the ports belonging to the port authority of the Balearic Islands there was also an increase in the number of boats by 13 per cent with 22,882 layovers and gross tonnage saw an increase of 4 per cent with 112 million GT in the first sixth months of 2019.