Port de Barcelona's Cargo Traffic Grows 1% Through September 2026
Cubierto por 3 fuentesPublicado
- diario del puertoEl tráfico de mercancías del Port de Barcelona crece un 1% hasta septiembre
- ports europePort of Barcelona cargo rises 1% in Jan-Sep 2026 as container imports grow 7.1%
- ports news rusiaBarcelona port lifts cargo 1% as container volumes slip
- diario del puertoPort de Barcelona avanza hasta los 52,8 millones de toneladas hasta septiembre y crece un 1%
Port de Barcelona handled 52.8 million tonnes of cargo between January and September 2026, 1% more than in the same period of 2025. Growth was mainly driven by an increase in imports of full containers and by vehicle traffic, while exports showed weaker performance.
Containers
In the container segment, the Catalan port reached a total of 2.82 million TEUs according to figures from the port operator, with imports of full containers growing 7.1% thanks to the performance of origins such as China, up 15.1%, and Vietnam, up 12.6%. Exports, on the other hand, fell 7.2% due to a slowdown in markets such as China and the United States. A different measurement put total container traffic at 2,817,980 TEU, which would represent a slight decline of 0.4% compared to the 2,829,295 TEU recorded in the same period of 2025.
Vehicles
Vehicle traffic rose 2.7% to 541,565 units, driven by an 18.6% jump in imports, which added 25,600 units more than in 2025 and reached 163,289 vehicles. There were somewhat different figures regarding the share of electric and hybrid units: while one source indicated they accounted for 60% of total imports, another measured a 60.3% increase in that segment, to 102,617 units, equivalent to 18.95% of all vehicles handled by the port.
Bulk and Ro-Ro
Liquid bulk grew 2.2% to 12.5 million tonnes, driven by chemical products (+51.1%) and biofuels (+39.9%). Dry bulk fell 2.9% to 2.9 million tonnes, with potash up 18.9% but grains down 35% and common salt down 15.2%. In ro-ro traffic, intermodal transport units rose 2.9% to 339,402, supported by an 8.5% increase in trade with Italy.
Passengers and Slowdown
Passenger traffic at the port totaled 4.8 million people between January and September, 4.5% more than in the same period of 2025, of which 1,518,655 were ferry passengers and 1.89 million were cruise passengers. Despite the positive balance in total tonnage, the pace of growth moderated, as the 1% increase recorded through September was lower than the 1.5% cumulative growth through August 2026.
