Romania’s Black Sea port of Constanta posted the second-highest growth among European seaports in terms of freight handled in 2021, +26% YoY (to 49.9 mln tonnes), after Zeebrugge (+27%) in Belgium, according to the latest data published by Eurostat.

Overall, the freight volume handled by the 29 seaports monitored by Eurostat (including ports in Turkey) rose by 4.5% in 2021, partly recovering the 5.4% YoY decline in 2020. In Constanta, the activity returned in 2021 above the 2019 pre-pandemic level (actually, it increased by 18%).

Among the 29 seaports listed by Eurostat, the volume of freight handled in Constanta port accounted for 2.4% of the total in 2021, up from 2.0% in 2020 and 1.7% in 2012.

The Romanian port ranked as the 16th busiest freight port in Europe, a 5-seat advance compared to 2020. The port is likely to further improve its position in 2022 amid significant freight traffic to and from Ukraine.

In the first half of this year, the total traffic of goods registered in Romanian seaports exceeded 37.56 mln tonnes, an increase of 17% compared to last year, according to Intermodal-Logistics.ro. The growth rate may seem smaller compared to 2021 – when, however, the port activity was recovering after subdued activity in 2020.

iulian@romania-insider.com

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