Port Tarragona grew to most out of the ten highest ranking ports in the Spanish state system during 2021. Traffic increased by 18.3%, putting it in fifth place in the state ranking of ports in maritime traffic. It ended the 2021 financial year with 31.16 million tons of cargo handled, a figure driven by significant increases in three categories: bulk liquids, bulk solids and general merchandise.

The Port Authority is striving to make Tarragona a benchmark in the future of logistics and transport, positioning all its projects under the slogan Horizon 2023, a year in which key infrastructures that will give a qualitative and quantitative boost to its port traffic will converge
in time.

An example of this strategy is the PortTarragona GuadalajaraMarchamalo Terminal, a 150,000 m2 site in the most important logistics and service platform on the Iberian Peninsula. Located in the Madrid area of influence, PortTarragona Guadalajara-Marchamalo Terminal is in the socalled Henares corridor, the most dynamic zone in the vicinity of the Spanish capital, with a population of more than 6 million in a radius of 60 km.

The new terminal will be connected to its sister intermodal terminal of La Boella located in the Port of Tarragona. A agreement has been signed to expand and improve this infrastructure in collaboration with CTC-Combi Terminal Catalonia (a joint venture led by BASF). The objective is to increase intermodal rail traffic (sea and land) with Tarragona’s hinterland and to expand it towards the centre of the Iberian Peninsula and Europe.

There is a clear commitment to intermodality as a tool for optimising the logistics chain and thus being able to offer an improved service to customers, from both an economic and a sustainability point of view.

The Port of Tarragona occupies a strategic geographical position for an efficient penetration of its hinterland and, at the same time, to offer maximum added value in its logistics chains.

Continuing with its logistics expansion, the Tarragona Port Authority is working on the development of the new Logistics Activities Zone (ZAL), beginning the first phases of construction. This infrastructure will occupy an area of 915,000 m² between the localities of
Vila-seca and Tarragona.

This new logistics platform will mean the creation of more than 4,200 direct and indirect jobs and an increase of 20% in the area available for logistics activities in the Port of Tarragona. Its positive impact on maritime traffic is calculated at between 2.7 million tons and 4.6 million tons more per year