Little by little, the Pitiusan ports are recovering passengers and activity after the tremendous negative effect of the covid pandemic, but it is still far from what was recorded in 2019, the last year of the old ‘normality’.
According to data provided by the Balearic Port Authority (APB) on its website (portsdebalears.com), from January to December 2021 the docks of Ibiza counted the crossing of 2,390,308 passengers, representing an increase of 56.5% over the same period of the pandemic year (1,526,870) but still a fall of 25.5% when compared to the data of 2019, when 3,209,896 travellers were counted.
819,588 fewer passengers
In short, 863,438 more people entered and left the island by sea last year than in 2020 but 819,588 fewer than two years ago.
On the other hand, in the month of December, one of the least active months, there was a recovery in the figures, as last year the port of Vila handled 93,742 passengers, a figure slightly higher than the 93,314 of two years ago. During covid, it fell to 64,719.
As for cargo traffic, an indicator which reflects the level of domestic consumption of the two islands, last year the port ended with a total of 2,837,353 tons handled (both solid bulks such as food and construction materials, for example, and liquids, mainly fuels), mainly arrivals, since the export of products to the Peninsula is very limited. During the first year of covid, in 2020, this figure was lower, specifically 2,409,429 tons were registered, 17.8% less.
The goods
But last year’s record is still far from the economic and social activity of before the health crisis. Thus, 2019 closed with 3,190,481 tons of goods at the Vila docks, 11% more than last year.
All these figures were made possible thanks to vessel traffic. For passenger and freight transport, 19,947 vessels entered and left Vila last year, just 4.3% more than during the coronavirus year but 18% less than in 2019, when 24,329 stopovers were recorded at the port facilities.
The pitiusa line is still 404,100 users short of 2019
Passenger traffic between Eivissa and Formentera, like the rest of the islands’ economic activity, continues to add activity as the incidence of covid recedes. Last year, when the islands were finally opened to tourism after the first year of the health crisis, there were 1,631,722 passengers between the two islands, representing a considerable increase of 66.2% over the same period of the covid year, 2020. Then, the activity on this line generated a total of 981,785 passengers.
The balance remains negative, however, if we compare last year’s statistics with those of 2019, the last year of the old economic and social ‘normality’. Then, from January to December, a total of 2,035,822 passengers were recorded between Vila and La Savina. This was 19.8% more than in 2021. This means that last year closed with 404,100 fewer users for the shipping companies that operated this line during that time, one of the busiest in Europe.
The arrival of goods to the island is one of the few data of the statistics of the Port Authority that stands up to the comparison not only with 2020, but also with the precovid year.
Thus, during 2021, a total of 308,060 tonnes of materials of all types, liquids (mainly fuels) and solids (foodstuffs and others), passed through La Savina. This figure is 28.7% higher than the previous year, when 239,371 tonnes were counted, and even 7.6% higher than in 2019. Then there was no virus, and Formentera received 286,352 tonnes of all types of goods.
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