traffic

They denounce a lack of staff and foresee a complicated summer from June 20

The Port of Barcelona continues to break records. During the first half of 2016, the number of containers handled, a reliable indicator of economic activity, exceeded one million, the best figure ever registered for a six-month period. This represents a growth of 13% in comparison to the same period last year, according to Port de Barcelona’s President, Sixte Cambra. Freight traffic in the Port of Barcelona made up a total of 24.2 million tonnes, which is 4% more than the same period last year and the amount of exports grew by 54% in comparison to the record figure registered in 2008. According to Cambra, these figures “consolidate the recovery of freight traffic and accelerate the figures of the Port of Barcelona’s activity”.

Barcelona’s Port registered an 8% growth in container traffic this March in comparison to the same period last year, reaching 493,000 TEUs (one TEU = one 20ft container). Both exports and imports saw a growth of more than 5%, along with an increase in container cargo coastal trade. All in all, 11.1 million tons of merchandise were registered from January to March of 2016. This is also represented by an increase both in liquid and solid merchandise in bulk. Meanwhile, the Barcelona El Prat airport experienced a rise in passengers in the first trimester of 2016, marking 16.1% more than the same period of the previous year, at a total of 8.5 million people. Along with this, both the Girona-Costa Brava airport and Reus airport, located in the Girona and Tarragona provinces respectively, witnessed an augmentation in traffic in the month of March. 

More than 723,500 vehicles were transported through Port de Barcelona during the first ten months of the year, 19% more than in the same period last year. Most of them, 374,554, were exports, although what grew the most from January to September were vehicle imports (+41%). Freight traffic during the first ten months of the year was 3% higher than in the same period last year, reaching 1.6 TEU, the transport unit which is equal to a 20-foot container. Goods exports were higher than imports and China and the USA topped the ranking of destination markets. Finally, from January to October Port de Barcelona received 3.3 million passengers, which is 6% more than the same period last year. 2.2 million of these were cruise liner passengers.

From January to September this year, Barcelona's port transported 100,666 UTI, the transport unit which equals a lorry, a platform or a trailer. The highest increase was registered in those services connecting the Catalan capital with Italian destinations, in particular Genoa, Civitavecchia, Livorno, Savona and Porto Torres. The rest of the goods transportation corresponded to short sea shippings, which are the connections between Barcelona and the North of Africa, mainly Tangier. Exports from January to September were higher than imports, and grew by 9% in comparison to the same period last year.Vehicle transportation continued to grow and registered 18% growth in the first nine months of the year, and 10,000 lorries have been diverted from road to maritime routes, according to data published this Thursday by Port de Barcelona for January to September.

Some roads have been blocked for a few hours and thousands of children had their schools shut down for the day. These have been the main effects of a small snowstorm that covered most of Catalonia during Wednesday morning. Catalonia has a wide diversity of landscapes, combining alpine mountains with river deltas, flat agricultural plains with rocky coasts, hills covered by forests with sandy beaches. This diversity is concentrated in an area the size of Belgium, which results in a wide diversity of climates. In the Pyrenees, snow is present for most of the winter, but this is not the case for the rest of Catalonia. In the flatlands around Lleida or in hilly areas of Girona or the northern part of Barcelona Province, it tends to snow at least once per year, but not in the rest of the country, where it only snows once every 4 or 5 years. Therefore, when snow arrives, transport problems and other issues tend to be also present.

Poor road conditions and a high rate of traffic accidents have led the Catalan Government to approve a strict circulation restriction for four axle lorries throughout 90 kilometers (56 miles) of the N-II, a road linking Madrid with Barcelona and the French border, which has only one lane per direction. Although the measure is of temporary character, it has outraged roadside shopkeepers and lorry drivers, but neighbors from towns close to the highly-frequented road totally support it. According to the Catalan Ministry for Public Works, now is the moment for the widening project of the road drawn up by the Spanish Government in 1995 to be restarted after years of delay due to a lack of funding in order to improve road conditions for the main entrance road to Spain from France.

50.2% of the people travelling between Barcelona and Madrid in the first six months of the year used the High Speed Train (AVE), instead of the car, bus or airplane. 1.4 million people used this AVE line between January and June, a 6.2% increase compared to the same period last year. In addition, the Port of Barcelona had 905,000 passengers in the first half of 2012, making it the first port in Spain in terms of passenger traffic.

Barcelona’s City Council announced that tourist buses will not be able to access the adjacent streets of the famous Sagrada Família Basilica. The reason: in the last few months there have been too many buses and they have been congesting the church surroundings, creating problems. The church, designed by well-known Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí, will welcome 900.000 more visitors this year compared to 2010, which means 3.2 million people will visit the Sagrada Família in 2011.

The previous Left-Wing Catalan Government had set a maximum speed limit of 80 km/h for the highways inside Barcelona’s Metropolitan Area. Less pollution and fewer accidents were the measure’ aims. However now, after some controversy, the current Centre-Right Government changed the measure and today cars are able to circulate at 120 km/h again.

Up to 300.000 passengers have been left stranded by an unauthorised strike by air traffic controllers. The walkout started at the beginning of a national holiday.

The Air Controllers Union (USCA) and AENA resume talks on workers? labour rights, avoiding huge disruptions to air travel in peak summer season

In a decision that will hit Spanish airspace heavily in one of the busiest months of the year, the country?s air traffic controllers are to go on strike for the first time in history