Reuters reports that in January, Spain experienced a significant increase in the volume of goods passing through top Spanish ports.
According to Reuters, this surge is attributed to shipping companies rerouting vessels bound for Europe around southern Africa due to heightened attacks on shipping in the Red Sea. Overall, Spanish ports reported a 3.4% increase in traffic in January compared to a 3.3% decline the previous year.
Be prepared for the Red Sea situation to last into the second half of the year and build longer transit times into your supply chain planning.
… advised Maersk’s New Regional President for North America, Charles van der Steene, in a statement by the company.
Furthermore, the northern ports of Santander and Bilbao saw transit volumes double or triple. This is partly because companies sought alternatives to truck transportation through Europe amid widespread farmer blockades.
Additionally, Ports such as Las Palmas in the Canary Islands and Barcelona saw a 25.4% and 7.6% increase in the volume of merchandise respectively, during the first month of 2023.
Volumes of merchandise in transit increased 2.8% in Spanish ports, but the rise is even more evident in northern Spanish ports such as Santander and Bilbao, which in the first 30 days of the year handled between two and three times the volume of goods in transit compared to January 2022.
The surge in Santander is also linked to an expansion of its container terminal, and in recent weeks, operators at the port have received inquiries and requests to ship goods to Britain.