The Port of Algeciras has operated in the last ten months, a total of 2,761 container ships and for the first time, will reach the figure of 200 megaships in a single year, which is an unprecedented milestone. Although the number of calls has increased by 7.7%, the growth in terms of volume (GT) has reached a significant 18.9%.
This month marks a decade since the arrival of the first megaship, the Maersk McKinney Möller, at APM Terminals Algeciras. Since then, more than 1,200 of these giants from companies such as APL, CMA CGM, HMM, Maersk Line, MSC, MOL, Cosco, Hapag Lloyd and ONE have operated in Algeciras. The year 2020 stood out as the best year to date with 147 megaships served, and the capacity of these vessels has increased significantly from the initial 16,000/18,000 TEU models to the 24,000 TEU megamax, the HMM Algeciras.
Between January and October, the Bay´s dock has registered a Total Traffic of 87.3 million tons of goods, which represents a decrease of 3.7% compared to the same period of the previous year. In the container sector, it is close to 4 million TEUs, a reduction of 1.1%, with a volume of Containerized Cargo of 47.4 million tons, a slight decrease of 0.1% compared to last year.
As for other types of traffic, liquid and solid bulk have experienced decreases of 5.9% and 69.5% respectively, contributing to the general decrease in activity. General Merchandise has remained at 58.8 million tons, with a decrease in 1.6%
On the other hand, the Strait Traffics have shown a positive growth after October. An accumulated 4.9 million passengers (an increase of 28.4%) and 1.05 million cars (an increase of 30.3%) have been registered. The three main lines (Algeciras-Ceuta, Algeciras-Tangier Med and Tarifa-Tangier City) have experienced an increase. However, the traffic of goods in trucks and semi-trailers with Tangier Med and Ceuta has registered a slight decrease of 1.7%, reaching 379,306 units.
News and image obtained: "El Estrecho Digital"
