According to the report of the Authority for Mobility and Transportes (AMT), Sines extended its lead over its rivals, and in the nine months represented 54.4% of all cargo handled, followed by Leixões, with a 19.6% share, by Lisbon, with 10.6%, and by Setúbal, with 8.0%.

Overall, cargo handled by ports in the period increased by 3.7% or 2.5 million tons, to a total 69.6 million tons - the highest ever level for the first nine months of a year.

Aside from Sines, Figueira da Foz was the only other mainland port that saw an increase in volume, of 1.2%, the AMT said.

At Leixões volume was down 1.1%, at Viana do Castelo by 13.2%, at Aveiro by 9.6%, at Setúbal by 2.7%, at Lisbon by 15.1% and in Faro by 44.6%.

Faro has been without business since June after the suspension of activity at the Cimpor cement factory in Loulé, which of late had been its only customer.

Growth in volumes at Sines was above all driven by container traffic and in particular this year by crude oil, thanks to the fact that the Leixões deep-water terminal has been paralysed by maintenance work. At present some of the oil imported by tanker for the refinery at Matosinhos is coming through Sines, which in the first nine months of 2016 handled about 1.7 million tons in this way.