Awaiting the impact of the new commercial turn of the United States, the Port of Barcelona has closed the 2024 fiscal year exceeding for the first time revenues of 200 million euros, a record figure for the third consecutive year for the infrastructure. A turnover that has led to profits of 63 million euros, 26% more compared to last year. For the first time, the port authority will have to pay corporate tax, for an amount of just under three million euros.
The good results have been supported by a total of 69.7 million tons moved by the port, approaching the highest figure in the historical series, that achieved in 2022 with almost 71 million tons. For the 2024 results, the behavior of containers was especially key, with an 18.5% growth compared to the previous year, reaching 3.89 million TEU ---a unit of measurement for containers equivalent to 20 feet---. This has been a consequence of the war in Gaza, which has paralyzed the Suez Canal, the main gateway to the Mediterranean for ships coming from Asia. The alternative route passes through Gibraltar, with vessels stopping at nearby enclaves to unload goods, leaving images of queues of ships waiting to dock in Barcelona. For a ship coming to the city from Shanghai, more than 10 days have been added to the route.
The dynamism of containers, especially in transit, was accompanied by growth in other traffics, with a single exception, vehicles, which registered a drop of almost 14%, to 682,000 units after years of many increases. Another sign of the slowdown in the sector due to the low adoption of electric vehicles, as well as the tariffs imposed by the European Commission against unfair competition from Chinese manufacturers. In the Port of Barcelona, with more than 187,000 imported cars, half come from the Asian giant. Vehicle exports fared better, with a 5.5% increase thanks to the good performance of Seat.
Despite this cooling in the automotive industry, Spain continues to be the second largest car producer in Europe and the eighth in the world, which means it continues to attract new investments. One of them will be the new vehicle terminal that NYK will build on the Príncep d'Espanya dock, the first that the Japanese shipping company will have in the country. For the port, it will be an opportunity to increase storage capacity and attract new traffic. It is expected to become operational by the end of 2026.
Other traffic that also grew was passenger traffic, once the pandemic-induced halt was completely overcome. Ferries remained stable at over 1,700 passengers, but cruises increased again. After last year's record, with 3.5 million cruise passengers, the figure has risen to 3.6 million cruise passengers, an increase of 2.4%. Faced with growing citizen discontent, the solution for the Barcelona City Council is to reduce the number of terminals. For this 2025, the number of calls is expected to increase.
New investment cycle
With the strength of its activity on the table, the Port of Barcelona plans to start a new investment cycle this year, with the forecast of closing many awards in 2025, with an outlay of more than 332 million euros. Among them, there are 94 million for the Muelle de Catalunya, with the forecast of starting works this summer, and 124 million for new mooring points in the Muelle de la Energía, which will replace those built in the sixties, which had become outdated and small for current vessels. Progress will also continue on the port electrification project, with more than 30 million euros to bring electricity to cruise ships.
Some future projects that will be complemented by the realization of others throughout 2025, such as the completion of the rehabilitation of the Portal de la Pau building, the opening of the dock where the WTC is located, allowing walking along its sides, and the Fishermen's dock, where one can attend the fish auction. Work will begin on projects that were delayed by the America's Cup, a nautical competition that also served to renovate the part of the infrastructure closest to the city, speeding up projects that had been forgotten in a drawer for years, such as the nautical bus. "It's a good legacy," remarks its president, José Alberto Carbonell. The competition resulted in losses of 3.5 million euros for the Port of Barcelona, a result of expenses of 4.5 million euros to adapt the space where the bases of the participating teams were located and revenues of 1 million euros.
In addition to working to bring the port closer to the city, with a second day of open doors, "more fun," as Carbonell has advanced, the infrastructure will this year launch the electrical connection points for ferries docking in the city, as it did a few months ago with the Hutchison Ports Best container terminal. A tender will also be opened to build a hydrogen station. The investment to be executed this year will amount to more than 80 million euros, above the 67 million in 2024. A figure that will grow even more in 2026 with the materialization of the awards that will see the light this year.