Last year, the port of Barcelona raised revenues by 4.4%, up to 189 million euros, a small growth impacted by the reduction in port activity caused by disruptions to maritime traffic, especially in the channel of Suez and the Red Sea: total traffic decreased last year by 9.8%. This led the Port of Barcelona to reduce operating profit by 18.5%, to 44 million euros, and profit before tax by 6%, to 59 million euros. The net profit, meanwhile, fell even more, by 20%, to 50 million, because in 2023 the port’s corporate tax bill skyrocketed.
The president of the Port Authority, Lluís Salvadó, acknowledged that “after an expansive 2022, 2023 has been complex”. Despite everything, he explained, the port is the first in the State in terms of the value of the goods it moves (more than 272 million euros) and the head of a business group made up of 17 companies that invoice 323 million euros annually and employ 39,137 people.
The general director of the port, José Alberto Carbonell, emphasized that it has suffered the impact of geopolitical conflicts, the decline in demand in Europe and the cooling of exports. Cross-country traffic (that is, with origin or final destination around Catalonia) reached 33.7 million tonnes, with a decrease of 4.3%. Passenger arrivals, on the other hand, soared by 35%, mainly due to the increase in cruise passengers: there were 3.5 million movements (as opposed to people), 52.9% more than in 2022, a year that still suffered from the effects of the pandemic.
The financial director, Miriam Alaminos, explained that the income has increased due to the end of the bonuses that the port granted to the operators during the covid, which have been 27 million euros. Without this factor, they would have remained stable.
The port invested 43 million last year and is now entering a new investment cycle. “The year 2023 has been used to bid for projects and in 2024 we will start to see how these projects are executed”, pointed out the president.
Last year, Salvadó explained, the port had infrastructure projects underway for 150 million euros, the majority from the port itself, and another 16 million from its investments: 6 million from Cilsa and 10 million euros that the World Trade Center is investing in remodeling.
For this year, the port has infrastructure projects underway worth 332 million euros, in which the construction of the Catalunya wharf and the dredging material recycling system stood out, two works that will exceed 100 million budget euros each.
Salvadó said that 2023 was a year marked by the preparation of the 37th America’s Cup. “We are facilitating the creation of the operational bases of the six teams, and we have launched public-private investment projects of 120 million euros in the transformation of the Old Port”, he assured.
