Industry revenue of “sea and coastal freight water transport“ in Portugal 2011-2023

After witnessing a near all-time high revenue growth in 2014, revenues of the Portuguese sea and coastal freight water transport industry witnessed a decline, from 513 million U.S. dollars in 2014 to 361 million U.S. dollars in 2019. Amongst key reasons include the decline in trade volumes and the increasing consumer preference towards rail and road freight services. In fact, a similar trend can also be observed in the country’s inland freight water transport industry, with revenues declining from 8.6 million U.S. dollars in 2008 to 5.2 million U.S. dollars in 2018, owing to the declining investments in the necessary infrastructure. The Port of Lisbon is the country’s largest port. As of 2019, the port handled a total volume of nearly 30.2 million tonnes of containerized cargo, a 13 percent year on year decline, as per data from portsofeurope.com.

The short to medium term does not augur too well for the sector either, as the outbreak of the corona virus has led to port closures and stalled industry operations.