If proof is needed that the Spanish economy is recovering, the port of Barcelona is providing it. After marking time last year at 42.4M tonnes of cargo, throughput at the Catalonian port increased by 9% year-on-year during the first four months of 2014, to 14.5M tonnes. Container throughput rose by 6% to 569,195teu, vehicles by 4% to 241,233, ro-ro traffic by 15% to 37,932 intermodal transport units, liquid bulks by 28% to 4.1M tonnes, and solids by 10% to 1.5M tonnes. For port deputy director-general Santiago Garcia-Mila, however, the most significant figure was the 8% rise in full-container imports, to 134,393teu, because this signalled that domestic demand in Spain had started to recover.
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