The popular port of Barcelona, Spain, has been inundated with an unprecedented amount of maritime traffic.
According to new numbers released by the Port of Barcelona, cruise ship calls currently make up 83% of all maritime traffic within the port, which is large enough to accommodate up to 10 large ships at once – with a brand new terminal recently opening nearby in spring of 2024.
The amount of cruise ships using Spain’s capital city as a homeport within the first half of the year has increased significantly, setting new records.
The number of passengers has increased by 3.9%, while the current number of vessels homeporting in Barcelona represents a 20% increase over the past decade.
“The Barcelona cruise model has taken a significant leap in the first half of the year, as the weight of home port cruises has increased significantly compared to transit cruises,” said Lluís Salvadó, president of the Port of Barcelona.
In just the first half of the year, the Spanish port has welcomed 323 ships, and will likely end the year with a grand total of over 700, or even 800, calls.
Afterall, Barcelona welcomed 803 ships in 2023, which carried approximately 3.5 million passengers to the provincial city – breaking pre-pandemic records by 13.7%.
But even while reaching record highs, the number of ship calls, and particularly from ships in transit, is trending lower this year – with numbers down by 6.6%.
While the decrease in the number of calls by ships in transit is to be expected as more ships are choosing to homeport in Barcelona than ever before, the other side of the coin is that Barcelona has actually imposed limitations on cruise ships.
Beginning in October of 2023, the city banned cruise ships from docking at its northern docks – the World Trade Center area and the Muelle Barcelona Norte – to mitigate port congestion and overwhelming crowding on land.
The other purpose behind the new rule was to keep exhaust gasses and other cruise ship-caused pollution further from the city center.
Earlier in 2024, Mayor Jaume Collboni announced plans to reduce available terminals for cruise ships to further address the ongoing overcrowding within the city.
Red Sea Crisis Contributes To Surge In Port Traffic
In addition to serving as the largest cruise port in Europe, Barcelona is Spain’s third largest container port.
Echoing the growth seen from cruise tourism, the Spanish port has seen a big uptick in shipping vessels within the port – increasing by 23.6% since the beginning of the year.
There has also been a 45% rise in the number of transshipments, which is a complex supply chain process that involves transporting cargo from one vessel to another, before the goods make their way to their final destination.
But the increase in shipping traffic didn’t simply happen by chance. It’s actually a result of the Red Sea crisis that began in October of 2023.
Read Also: The Impact of Red Sea Tensions on Cruising
Many cruise ships were forced to reroute or cancel voyages entirely to avoid the conflict in the Middle Eastern region and the Suez Canal out of an abundance of caution.
Likewise, many shipping companies have opted to divert from their usual routes through the Suez Canal in order to prioritize the safety of the crew members onboard and the goods they are transporting.
In light of this change, Barcelona has become a key shipping hub and a gateway for connecting destinations throughout the eastern Mediterranean.
