Shipping falls 4.1% in Portugal

 In Business, Economy, Exports, News

Shipping container freight in and out of Portugal’s main ports of Lisbon, Leixões and Sines fell 4.1% to 28.6 tonnes to April 2020.

It was 4.1% down on the same period in 2019 and largely due to the coronavirus pandemic according to the Portuguese Transport Mobility Authority (AMT).
“Between January and April 2020, mainland Portuguese ports shipped a total of 28.63 million tonnes of cargo, a decrease of 4.1% of the total volume of cargo on the same period in 2019” says the AMT in a communiqué.
In April alone, during the height of the crisis period and State of Emergency, port shipments fell 5.3% compared to the same month in 2019.
In total, the decrease registered corresponded to less than 1.23 million tonnes of cargo with the Port of Lisbon being hardest hit with a fall of 900,000 tonnes or 24.7% less and which reflected the “increased climate of labour instability.”
The ports of Setúbal, Sines, Aveiro also saw falls of respectively 251.2 million tonnes, 192.1 million tonnes and 21.4 million tonnes.
Viana do Castelo, Leixões (Porto), Figueira da Foz (Coimbra) and Faro however saw an increase in shipments of 139.3 million tonnes.
The AMT said that the overall fall in shipments was essentially down to the behaviour of the coal market in Sines which, “for reasons beyond the control of the ports themselves” saw a fall of 1.3 million tonnes as a result of there not being any significant electricity power station production at Sines and Pego which saw a falloff in out put by 98.5% and 74.2% respectively.
On the other hand, container shipments also contributed to the slowdown with a fall by 580,000 tonnes, particularly Porto and Lisbon.