Container rail traffic in the Port of Barcelona has grown 46% in the first half of this 2021.
The port has moved 161,735 TEU compared to 111,132 TEU moved compared to the same period of 2020. The container rail share is now at its all-time high at the port, at 16.1%.
The increase in rail traffic is a result of large distribution commitment and industrial companies for the transport of goods by train, and the “good behaviour” of the refrigerated goods and the return to the activity of the Pla de Vilanoveta terminal by the hand of APM Terminals Spain Railway.
The increase in intermodal freight movement is one growing across Spanish mainland: in July 2021 the Port Authority of Valencia announced it will invest some $285 million into railway upgrades to improve the flow of trade at Valenciaport and the Port of Sagunto.
President of the Port of Barcelona Damià Calvet i Valera commented, “In the last year, the movement of goods by rail in the port has saved 42,700 tons of CO2 with the removal of 700 trucks a day from the roads, avoiding burning 14 million litres of fuel or the equivalent of planting 256,000 trees in a year.”
