The port of Barcelona recorded significant growth in foreign trade in the first half of 2025: The number of loaded export and import containers increased by 10% to a total of 721,461 TEU.
The export volume rose by 8% to 365,062 TEU. Meanwhile, imports increased by 12% to 356,399 TEU, primarily due to increased shipments from Asia. The port’s turnover amounted to € 101 million, an increase of 4% year-on-year.
Liquid bulk up – dry bulk down
The volume of liquid bulk increased by 22.1% to 8.25 million tons, primarily thanks to transits and imports of petrol and LNG. In contrast, dry goods recorded a decline of 21.9% to 1.82 million tons. This was due to lower grain and flour imports following a good harvest and a technical stop at the Elian terminal. The handling of new vehicles fell by 6.5% to 362,951 units. While imports increased by 7% and cabotage traffic grew by 11%, the overall result declined. Combined transport (ITUs) stagnated at 218,237 units. The total volume of goods handled in the first half of the year was 34.68 million tons – a decrease of 3.2 %. In passenger traffic, the volume on ferries fell by 1.4 % to 652,782 passengers.
In contrast, the number of cruise passengers rose by 15.7% to 1.69 million, which corresponds to around one million visitors to the city (+12.9%). With 94 million visitors last year, Spain is the world’s second most popular tourist destination. The industry generates 13% of Spain’s gross domestic product (GDP). According to estimates by the city council, 170,000 people came to Barcelona every day in 2024 and, according to the port authority, 3.65 million cruise tourists a year – too many for many of the city’s residents. They blame tourism for the housing shortage and noise pollution.
Investment program almost fully tendered
By the middle of the year, 95% of the investments planned for 2025 totaling € 332.5 million had been put out to tender. Key projects include work on the Catalunya and Adossat piers, the construction of Cruise Terminal G, new berths for liquid cargo (34C/D/E), shore power infrastructure for MSC Cruises and the rail connection to the Nou-Llobregat area. Only the tender for the medium-voltage infrastructure at the Adossat pier is still outstanding. The €16 million project is to be presented to the Board of Directors in September.
The Barcelona Port Authority is a public institution under the Spanish state-owned company “Puertos del Estado”. It is responsible for Port Vell, the commercial port and the logistics zone “ZAL Port”, among others. The port comprises 35 specialized terminals on an area of over 800 hectares and handled more than 3.6 million TEU in 2024.
