Markets supplied

Traffic evolution (I_10)

The evolution over the last three years both in total tons moved at the Port of Huelva and the tons moved by generic freight groups and the percentage of each of those groups out of the total was as follows:

The Port of Huelva ended 2020 with total port traffic of 29.9 million tons, which was down 11.52% on the 2019 results.

Even though the liquid and solid bulk traffic are the traditional areas of specialisation of the Port of Huelva, its positioning is gradually nearer to that of a global port with greater participation of containerised general and RORO freight.

The ongoing diversification strategy is leading to growth in other port business segments, such as general freight, whether transported in containers or RORO, where significant growth was recovered in 2020.

2020 was chequered by the international crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and its devastating impact on economic growth worldwide. Restrictions on people's mobility and the enforced stoppages of countless non-essential activities had a direct impact on freight traffic at the Port of Huelva. While there was a decrease in the traditional traffic, including solid and liquid bulk, at the Port of Huelva, general freight, RORO and container traffic increased during this crisis year. Supplying the Canary Islands using the regular lines drove that growth.

Highlights of 2020

As regards the solid bulk traffic, a total of 4.8 million tons were shifted, which was down 15.10%. Tourism coming to a near total halt nationwide during most of the year due to the successive states of alarm decreed in the country had a very notable negative impact on internal consumption and consequently on cereal imports through the Huelva docks. Cereals and animal feed make up a significant part of the total solid bulk traffic in Huelva and 460,000 tons of those goods were lost in 2020.

As regards liquid bulk traffic, 23.4 million tons were shifted, which represented a more than significant drop of a total of 11.96% compared to 2019 volumes. Yet again, the COVID-19 health crisis, the drop in air traffic and in mobility of people impacted the volumes of that traffic and more specifically that generated by the oil refinery activity. La Rábida, the CEPSA refinery, which has different private facilities in the Port's service area, ended 2020 unloading 1.5 million tons fewer of oil through its crude monobouy, and the Reina Sofia petrol and diesel dock was down over 100,000 tons.

Liquid oils and greases also saw their tonnage drop 22.59%. It is hoped that a horizon of growth will open up as the result of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food authorising the import of those by-products not only through the PCF (Border Checkpoint) on the South Wharf, but also through the facilities where DECAL España holds a port concessionary in order to produce biofuels.

LNG that account for 10.7% of the total port traffic the previous year was also impacted this year. It posted a result of 3,236,806 tons, which was a drop of 11.24% and over 400,000 tons compared to 2019.

Despite the impact of the Covid-19 crisis on the cruise sector, the total LNG supply operations in Spain increased 3.7 times and the volume supplied by 1.5, which indicates a clear commitment to this energy source by maritime transport. The Port of Huelva performed 105 operations (104 TTS + 1 MTTS) to supply LNG as a maritime fuel, meaning a total of 21,642 m3.

As regards conventional bunkering, which had also seen advances in recent years, the evolution during 2020 was also negative, down up to 27.26%. This undoubtedly was partly down to the drop in number of vessels calling in at Huelva, 270 vessels fewer than in 2019. Balearia was the shipping lines that ran this type of operations. Specifically, the Marie Curie, Nápoles, Hypatia de Alejandría and Sicilia vessels had two departures a week instead of the scheduled three.

Finally, and on a positive note, results are starting to be seen from the Port of Huelva's diversification strategy. In 2020, container traffic accounted for a total of 83,802 TEU, which meant growth of 13.28%, and UTI RORO traffic posted significant expansion thanks to the consolidation of the Balearia services during the year. Along with the FRS services, this meant that both companies moved a total of 24,171 units. This was an increase of 14.29% on 2019. However, there was a slight drop (7.71%) in the number of passengers on the regular lines with the Canary Islands, which was also due to the restrictions on mobility imposed by the COVID-19 health crisis.

During 2020, the "TECO" Container rail traffic continued to grow along the established corridors of previous years with Seville and Madrid, along with new corridors with Elvas (Portugal) and Mérida. There was a total of 414 trains transporting a total of 20,441 TEUs, 24% of the total TEUs manipulated in the Port of Huelva in 2020 (83,806).

The Elvas train (Portugal) is managed by the logistics operator Transitex with cargo mainly for northern Europe and the Mérida train by the Maersk shipping company. The rail connection with Elvas meant 1,332 TEUs were transported in 2020 and 103 TEU with Mérida.

The hinterland or land catchment area by and from which the freight coming into and leaving from the Port of Huelva is distributed is mainly in the province of Huelva, followed by the provinces of Badajoz and Cáceres, along with Madrid, Zaragoza and Barcelona.

 

 

Hinterland and foreland. Main origins and destinations of the freight (I_11)

As regards the hinterland, it should be noted that it was larger than in 2019, as freight flows with new provinces had been established.

With respect to the foreland, or set of areas from where imports are attracted and exports are distributed from the Port of Huelva, particularly noteworthy is its expanse due to the different countries of origin of the goods needed for industry.

The import and export foreland are identified below, with the main origins and destinations of the goods

Import foreland, 2020

Export foreland, 2020

Turnover invoiced to the five main customers (I_12)

€23,111,735, 46.85% of the total, out of the total of €45,284,604.59 invoiced in 2020 was to five main customers.

The five main customers were:

Main sectors in the economic development underpinning the port’s development (I_13)

The main sectors where the companies of the Port Community operate are:

• Industrial Sector:
  • Energy: Cepas refinery, the Enagás regasification and Ence biomass plants.
  • Metallurgy: with the Atlantic Copper foundry.
  • Chemical: with plants such as Cepsa Química, Fertiberia, Venator, Fertinagro, Electro Química Onubense, etc.
  • Mining: Minerals, mainly copper and nickel, leave from the Ingeniero Juan Gonzalo Wharf, mainly to China.
• Logistics Sector:
  • Hydrocarbons: Decal España, CLH, Repsol.
  • Minerals: Impala Terminals.
  • Regular shipping lines with the north of Europe and the Canary Islands: Containerships, FRS, Alisios Shipping, and Balearia&FredOlsen.
• Fishing sector: first trader and wholesale market fish auction.
• Cruise tourism sector: with several stopovers a year.

And additionally, the sectors related to the port and commercial operations and services, such as: container terminals, shipping companies, stowage services companies, customs agencies, shipping agents, forwarding agents, bunkering, provisioning, supplying, ship repairs, storage, etc.