The movement of goods and ships increased in the ports of the Algarve, but the number of cruise passengers stagnated in 2015, reveal data now released by APS – Administration of the Ports of Sines and Algarve.
Thus, in terms of percentage, the biggest increase was registered in the total number of ships that used the port of Portimão, which went from 46 in 2014 to 70 in 2015, resulting in an increase of 52,17%.
Em Faro, the number of ships increased from 79 to 85 (more 7,59%), which means that, in the two ports together, there was a total growth of 24%.
Less exuberant was the addition of passengers at the Port of Portimão. In 2015, although there were 13 more cruise ships to dock in Portimão (34 in 2014, 47 in 2015), there were only 152 more passengers (a total of 14.786 in 2015). According to APS, in response to a question from the Sul Informação, this lack of proportionality in the increase was due to the fact that “the number of passengers per stopover was lower”.
According to what our newspaper found, this was due to the fact that, last year, smaller ships scaled Portimão, leading to an almost stagnation in the number of passengers.
According to data provided by APS to our newspaper, in 2015, the Port of Faro received a total of 85 ships, of which 80 were cargo ships.
«Some of the latter and the remaining ships (5), of various other types (refrigerator ships, dredgers,…), have arrived at the port to carry out a number of other operations, not directly related to the movement of goods, such as the supply,” clarified the APS.
As for the Port of Portimão, last year, it received 70 ship calls, of which 47 cruise ships, «remaining 23 ships of various other types (among which general cargo, research/exploration,…) that used the port of Portimão to carry out a series of operations other than the movement of passengers or goods'.
With regard to goods, handled exclusively through the Port of Faro, there was an increase of 7,86% in the period under review, from 367.412 tonnes in 2014 to 396.276 last year.
Of this total, according to data disclosed by the APS to the Sul Informação, the movement of cement (353.345,6 tons) stood out, followed by clinker (29.301,7 tons).
The main customer of the Port of Faro it is Cimpor, which, through it, exports a large part of its cement production to markets such as Algeria or Cape Verde.
Despite the increase, the truth is that this rise fell short of the expectations of the APS administration. In August, during a visit to the Port of Faro, João Franco, president of the Administration of the Ports of Sines and Algarve, had announced that this port infrastructure would end the year with a «substantial increase of 10%» in its movements, that is, with about «450 thousand tons of cargo ».
The final numbers, below this expectation, are due, according to APS, to variations in the «market and external environment».
Responding to a question posed by our newspaper, APS emphasizes that “in August, on the date of the aforementioned communication, the movement of goods in the port of Faro presented a significant growth and above 10%, the latter still being a conservative value. At that date, nothing predicted that the variation in the movement of goods would not reach double-digit growth, only justified by the market and the external situation».
«The estimated 10% growth would represent an increase in handling by 36.741 tonnes, having been only 28.864 tonnes, or 7.877 tonnes below the estimated value in August. This difference would represent the load of two ships, which still did not show any variation, since the number of ships that handled goods was the same as last year, for a total of goods which, in 2015, was higher».
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