“The first two months of 2018 confirmed the negative trend in January”, the AMT said in a statement, adding that over the first two months of this year “the mainland’s commercial ports handled 14.7 million tons, 1.28 million tons less compared to the same period of 2017”.
According to the AMT, “this decrease in cargo volume reflects a fall of 8 percent, interrupting a cycle of positive changes that have been taking place since 2012 and reached their peak in 2017, registering the highest ever level”.
The AMT reported that the result recorded at the end of February “is a demonstration of the combination of different performances of the various ports, especially Leixões and Aveiro, which recorded the highest cargo volume ever in the periods of last year after respective increases of 5 percent and 21.6 percent”.
The ports of Figueira da Foz, Lisbon and Setúbal “also recorded positive performances, in January/February 2018 recording variations of 26.4 percent, 3.9 percent and 3.3 percent, respectively”.
In the case of Sines, this port saw a drop of 19.1 percent, which corresponds to a decrease of 1.7 million tons, “completely offsetting the sum of the positive changes recorded”.
The AMT noted that the first two months of the year are being compared with the same period of 2017, “in which Sines registered a remarkable peak of activity”, which is why “the performance of this port probably reflects a return to the normal trajectory, which is an overall cargo growth of 8.2 percent and 20.2 percent in containerised cargo, when compared to the 2016 figures”.
Most ports, except for Sines and Faro, recorded an increase in the number of ship stopovers, with Aveiro, Douro and Leixões, Setúbal and Lisbon accounting for the most significant increases, with positive variations of 10.9 percent, 3.6 percent, 5.1 percent and 2.7 percent, respectively.