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Cruise passenger traffic in Spain rose a healthy 9.4% in 2015

Spanish ports operated by Puertos del Estado, handled 8,435,966 cruise passengers during 2015, a healthy 9.4% increase over 2014 traffic. Cruise vessel calls rose by 4.1% to 3,856, reflecting the ongoing increase in capacity per vessel.

Mary Bond, Editor in Chief

February 23, 2016

1 Min Read
Credit: Seatrade Cruise News

As usual, Barcelona led the league table with a 7.4% growth to 2,540,291 passengers, still slightly below 2013 and record year 2011 results. Vessel calls, however, at 750, were down by a minuscule 0.8%, ranking second behind the Balearics. Ports in those islands handled 1,747,868 passengers, a gain of 10.2%, aboard 783 calls, itself a 15.5% gain and an inversion of the capacity factor noted earlier.

Third ranking in both categories went to Las Palmas, with 1,250,423 passengers, up 17.4%, and 542 port calls, a gain of 7.8%. Nearby Santa Cruz de Tenerife reported 933,121 passengers, an increase of 10%, aboard 506 vessel calls, down 2.3% and fourth ranked in both categories. The Canaries in the aggregate served almost 2.2m passengers, not far behind Barcelona.

Málaga registered a 2.6% gain to 418,503 passengers, fifth in volume, aboard 238 port calls, up 4.9%, sixth ranked. The Bay of Cádiz was not far behind, with 411,453 passengers, a 7.9% increase, while its 296 port calls were up by 3.9% and scored fifth place.

Standing seventh in both categories was Valencia, which reported a tiny 0.4% decline to 371,374 passengers, but a sharp 13.1% drop to 172 port calls.Vigo was eighth in passenger volume, with a more than respectable 16.5% gain to 204,979 travellers aboard 82 calls, a mere 1.2% gain and tenth in the Spanish league table.

Number nine in passengers was Cartagena, where 150,476 passengers marked a 9.1% growth and 109 vessel calls exactly matched the prior year, scoring eighth place. A Coruña came tenth in passengers at 140,444, up by 8.4%, and 92 vessel calls took ninth position, up by 58.8%.

About the Author

Mary Bond

Editor in Chief

Mary Bond is Group Director, Seatrade Cruise a division within Informa Markets and responsible for the Seatrade portfolio of global cruise events, print and online cruise publishing.

Mary is also the publisher and editor-in-chief of Seatrade Cruise News and Seatrade Cruise Review magazine.

Mary has worked in the shipping industry for 39 years, first for Lloyd’s Register of Shipping before joining Seatrade’s editorial team in 1985.

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