Markets supplied

Traffic evolution (I_10)

The evolution over the last three years both of total tonnes moved at the Port of Huelva and tonnes moved by generic freight group, along the percentage of the total of each of those groups, was as follows:

The Port of Huelva ended 2021 with total port traffic of 30.68 million tonnes, which was up 2.56% on the 2020 results.

Liquid and solid bulk continue to be the main traditional areas of specialisation of the Port of Huelva. However, the ongoing diversification strategy to other business segments means that its positioning is gradually shifting to a global port with increases in the share of breakbulk, project cargo, containers and Ro-Ro.

Highlights of 2021

2021 continued to be chequered by the international crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on economic growth worldwide. Nevertheless, the restrictions on movement of individuals and the forced shutdown of many non-essential activities were far fewer than in 2020. The Port of Huelva was thus able to recover much of its usual pre-pandemic activity.  Therefore, the port's traditional traffic - solid and liquid bulk - returned to growth, although they have not as yet recovered to the pre-pandemic levels of 2019. As regards general freight, RO-RO and container traffic, even though they dropped slightly in 2020, they managed to recover and even increased the operated tonnage prior to COVID-19.

As regards the solid bulk traffic, a total of 5 million tonnes were shifted, which was up 2.9%.  Iron and steel products, associated with the traditional ore transformation and logistics activity at Huelva, accounted for 51% (with over 2.5 million tonnes handled in 2021) of the total of this type of bulk. Copper ore shipments handled by Impala and Atlantic Copper accounted for the vast amount. On the other hand, the moderate recovery of tourism nationally during the year fostered the increase of domestic consumption and cereal imports through the Huelva docks totalled 1 million tonnes of cereals, animal feed and fodder.  However, the greatest growth by volume of solid bulk was posted by construction materials, and more specifically asphalt and cement that were up by over 150,000 tonnes on 2020.

The liquid bulk traffic amounted to 24.18 million tonnes, which represented significant growth, nearly 3% up on the volumes posted in 2020. Furthermore, in this regard, as the impact of the COVID-19 has gradually declined, there has been certain growth in crude oil and refined products, although without reaching pre-pandemic levels due to the drop in air traffic and people continuing to travel less. By the end of 2021, the CEPSA La Rábida refinery had unloaded 8.1 million tonnes of oil through its crude oil single buoy mooring point, which was very similar to the 2020 volume. As regards refined products, the values at year-end were also on a par to those for 2020, which still left room to return to the figures prior to the health crisis.

Liquid oils and fats also showed growth in tonnage of nearly 12%. It is hoped that this upward trend will continue 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 DECAL España facilities to produce biofuels as a port concessionary.

The performance of LNG particularly contributed to the increase in liquid bulk during the year. This traffic, whose specific weight in the overall picture is important, has grown by 10.27% and its upward trend is expected to continue.  After the closure of the Maghreb gas pipeline that connected the Algerian gas wells  with Spain through  Morocco, the Huelva docks became a strategic point for the unloading of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and which significantly increased in the last two months. The gas pipeline that closed in 2021 accounted for 25% of natural consumption, while the Medgaz line (entering through Almeria) provides a similar percentage. In other words, half of the natural gas used in Spain has to arrive by ship.

As regards conventional bunkering, which had also seen advances in recent years, the evolution during 2021 was also positive, up by over 40%. This undoubtedly contributed to the rise in the number of vessels calling in at Huelva, 45 vessels more than in 2020. As regards the bunkering of new fuels (LNG), the price of LNG shot up in 2021 and the Balearia shipping line that regularly used the bunkering services of this fuel dramatically reduced the amount it bought (only for auxiliary engines) and used traditional fuels to operate its vessels.  Therefore, a drop could be seen in the number of LNG bunkering supply OPS and in the M3 supplied. There were 57 OPS with 8550 M3· supplied in 2021 compared to 105 OPS and 21642 M3 in 2020.

In 2021, general freight, and more specifically container traffic, experienced a slight setback due to hike in the price of charters and the world shortage of TEUS arising from relaunch of the Chinese economy, which meant that all the available units were diverted to that market. A total of 80,588 TEUs were moved and that figure is expected to multiply in the coming years once the work to extend the berthing line is finished and the new South Wharf Terminal comes into service.

With respect to Ro-Ro traffic, a total of 23,586 ITUs (Intermodal Transport Units) passed through the South Wharf, thanks to the lines that linked the Canary Islands with mainland Spain and which are currently run by Balearia and Naviera Armas. The Port of Huelva is a key player in the Spanish port system in terms of its connection with the Canary Islands, as it has four sailings a week, three with Ro-Pax ferries and one with a container vessel. It is the leader in that traffic and, in particular, in passenger transport, as over 48,000 national and foreign passengers used the service in 2021, which was much higher than the pre-pandemic figures for 2019.  The launch of the "Route 1400 Huelva-Canary Islands" by the current operators - Balearia & Olsen, Armas and Alisios shipping companies - will help to drive the growth of this corridor as it will focus on passenger tourism, where travelling by sea is chosen as part of the experience when crossing Europe and mainland Spain and Portugal in their vehicles (caravans, cars and motorbikes).

Finally, freight rail traffic from the Port of Huelva grew by over 23.5% in 2021 and thus helped to strengthening the policies to protect the environment and reduce greenhouse gases. There was a total of 1,829 rail operations, 20% of which transported containers. The corridors with Seville and Madrid of previous years continued to operate, along with the connections from Majarabique to Bilbao, Tarragona and Barcelona. The year ended with a total of 23,622 TEUs (80,588), with the share of rail containers at the Port of Huelva up 16%. In addition to the existing routes to Seville and Madrid, new rail freight corridors to Elvas (Portugal) and Mérida with freight for northern Europe were opened, but would their operations would subsequently be suspended due to the effects of the pandemic and the lack of containers.

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

It should be noted that the hinterland remained unchanged compared to 2020.

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 is identified below, with the main origins and destinations of the goods.

Import foreland, 2021

Export foreland, 2021

Turnover invoiced to the five main customers (I_12)

In 2021, €22,147,535.74, 47.93% of the total, out of the total of €46,211,183.11 invoiced 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 Port Community companies operate are:

Industrial Sector

 

• Energy: Cepsa refinery, the Enagás regassification plant, Ence biomass plant, biofuel plants such as Bio-oils and Gunvor, etc.
• Metallurgy: Copper cathodes from the Atlantic Copper foundry are shipped from the Ingeniero Juan Gonzalo Wharf.
• Chemical: with plants such as Cepsa Química, Fertiberia, Venator, Fertinagro, Electro Química Onubense, etc.
• Mining: Ore, mainly copper concentrate for Atlantic Copper, arrives at the Ingeniero Juan Gonzalo Wharf

Logistic Sector 

 

• Hydrocarbons: Decal España, Exolum, Repsol.
• Ores: Impala Terminals.
• Regular shipping lines with the north of Europe and the Canary Islands: CMA-CGM, Naviera Armas, Alisios Shipping, and Balearia & FredOlsen. The aforementioned regular lines continued to operate with the same vessels and port call frequencies.  An increase in services by the CMA-CGM group at our port was expected, but did not happen in 2021.

 

Fishing sector

First trade and wholesale market fish auction unit.

Cruise Tourism sector

In 2021, the cruise sector was still hit by the restrictions resulting from the pandemic, the different and very strict health requirements to accept vessels in each region which led to shipping lines seeing many cancelled bookings, having to reconsider ports of call and complaining about the difficulties that they found to kick start this maritime segment again.

Along with those related to the port and commercial operations and services, such as: container terminals, shipping companies, stevedoring, customs clearance, shipping agents, freight forwarders, bunkering, provisioning, procurement, ship repairs, warehousing, etc., mention must here be made to the huge investment in 2021 in the Yilport container terminal with the addition of 3 new super-post-Panama cranes and also the purchase of yard machinery (reach stackers and MAFI mobile loading platforms) for shore operations at the rail terminal and container yard.