Eurostat reports a partial recovery in the passenger traffic of European ports for 2021, after the significant decrease of 45% in the number of passengers in 2020 due to the pandemic.
Specifically, compared to 2020, the number of passengers increased by 16%, reaching 267.9 million from 230 million in 2020. Of course, this number is still significantly lower than pre-pandemic levels (-36% in 2021 compared to 2019), when EU ports recorded 418 million passengers.
According to the data, the port of Messina in Italy remains at the top of the EU’s passenger ports for 2021, with 8.3 million passengers. Then the port of Reggio Di Calabria recorded 8.1 million passengers and three Greek ports complete the list: Piraeus, Paloukia of Salamina and Perama (with 5.9 million passengers each).
In 2021, the ports found in the top20 represented more than 34% of the number of passengers in all EU member states. At the same time, a significant decrease in passenger traffic was recorded in 2021 compared to 2019, with the exception of two Italian ports: Piombino (+2%) and Isola d’Elba (+3%).
Loads recover as well
The total gross weight of goods handled in EU ports in 2021 was estimated at 3.5 billion tons, an increase of 4% compared to 2020. According to the same data, although 2021 levels show signs of recovery, values are still slightly below pre-pandemic levels.
The Netherlands remained at the top, as the country’s ports handled 590 million tons of goods (+32 million tons compared to 2020). Italy and Spain followed in the relevant list, with a share of 14%.
Rotterdam (435 million tons), Antwerp (216 million tons) and Hamburg (111 million tons), all on the North Sea coast, maintained their position as the top three EU ports in 2021. Compared to 2020, the number of tons handled in 2021 decreased the most in Piraeus (-10%), Algeciras in Spain (-6%) and Klaipeda in Lithuania (-5%). On the contrary, it increased in Zeebrugge in Belgium (+27%) and in Constanta in Romania (+26%).
