Spanish container trade data for August 2020 slightly up

The recent data from Puertos del Estado show that the number of containers imported or exported to or from Spanish ports plus the container traffic between Spanish ports (cabotage), keeps up with a positive trend after the dramatic decrease experienced in April 2020 (almost minus 17%).

Traffic in August increased by a modest 0.3% when compared to July and is still over 6% lower when compared to August 2019. However, an increase in August is rather exceptional. Analysing the data for the past 16 years indicate that in only four years the August volume was slightly higher than that of July, and in two years significantly higher (2009, 2011). All other years the volume dropped significantly in the month of August.

Source: Data from Puertos del Estado elaborated by CLAUpartners consulting

 

Container import, export and cabotage volumes for Spain reached 633 thousand TEU in August, which is like the volumes for January and February.

When we compare the COVID-19 crisis with the financial crisis that started in September 2008, we see a much stronger recovery today than happened then, as illustrated by the following graph with the index for import, export and cabotage traffic for all Spanish ports, setting the index of the volume handled at 100 at the start of the period.

Source: Data from Puertos del Estado elaborated by CLAUpartners consulting

 

Hopefully, data for September will demonstrate a larger increase.

 

For more details, please contact me at consulting@claupartners.com

 

Mike Dekker

Co-founder CLUApartners consulting