The Port of Bilbao grew by 5.55% in 2021 and expects to increase by 7.4% this year

The Port of Bilbao increased the goods it moved by 5.5%, to almost 31.2 million tons, and expects to grow by 7.4% in 2022, to 33.5 tons, above the expected GDP increases for Spain and Euskadi.

The president of the Port Authority of Bilbao, Ricardo Barkala, presented this Thursday the results of 2021, in which the port has had a turnover of 62.1 million, 7.1 million more than in the “lousy” 2020, and a ebitda of 30.8 million, while it has reduced its net debt to 12.3 million, 0.4 times the ebitda.

Direct investments, especially to gain ground in the new central breakwater wharf and the extension of the AZ1 wharf, amounted to 42.9 million and in this 2022 will be 50.6 million, in addition to those made by companies installed in the port .

When analyzing the data, similar in tons to that of 2014 and below that of 2019, Barkala highlighted that the increase has been weighed down by a drop of 2.16% in liquid bulk, which accounts for 57% of traffic of Bilbao for Petronor products and liquefied natural gas (-15%), while it has risen in solid bulk (+26.81) and general merchandise (+13.57%), which are the traffic with the highest value added.

Barkala has stated that the “prudent and achievable” expectations for 2022 are to reach 33.5 million tons, with an increase of 7.4%n.

In passengers, it increased by 62% when the restrictions due to the pandemic were reduced and reached 73,000 people, of which 60,000 correspond to the ferries with the United Kingdom and Ireland and 13,000 to the 14 cruise ships that arrived at the port. In 2022, 79 cruise ships will dock in Getxo, a “qualitative leap”.