The Spanish Association of Automobile and Truck Manufacturers (ANFAC) has released its 2022 report covering sea freight, rail freight and road freight.
The ANFAC report is based on a survey in which ANFAC’s members are asked about the satisfaction they have with various aspects of each transport mode.
Overall volumes
According to the report, in 2022, a total of 4.59 million vehicles were transported via road, rail, and ship sea, showing a slight 2.6% volume increase compared to 2021.
However, this figure still falls below the pre-pandemic norm of over 5 million vehicles.
The report adds that economic fluctuations since 2020, coupled with the impact of the COVID-19 crisis and the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, have significantly affected the automotive sector, making recovery challenging.
Increase in the use of sea freight
The use of sea freight for transporting vehicles experienced 9.2% growth in 2022, with a volume of 2.2 million vehicles.
This positive trend follows 3 consecutive years of declines, and attributed to a 5.8% increase in vehicle production.
Moreover, sea freight is the preferred transport mode of 48.4% of ANFAC’s members, and has increased its share by 2.9% compared to 2021.
Santander found to be ANFAC’s most highly rated port
A section of the report also focuses on the 8 main ports for vehicle import and export, including Santander, Tarragona, Sagunto, Pasaia, Barcelona, Valencia, Vigo, and Malaga.
The research shows that Santander leads the way with a satisfaction score of 4.4 out of 5, followed by Tarragona and Sagunto at 4.2. Notably, the ports of Santander, Sagunto, and Malaga, all improved their scores compared to 2021. However, Spanish ports’ overall average rating dropped by one-tenth to 3.9 out of 5 compared to the year before.
Overall, among the categories that were rated, customs procedures received the highest rating (4.5 out of 5), followed by access to warehousing, loading and unloading of trucks, storage area management, and incidents related to vehicle handling, all of which scored 4.2 out of 5.
The vehicle manufacturers also noted positive aspects such as improvements in railway access to ports, increased service flexibility, and a reduction in accidents brought by enhanced training.
Use of rail freight and intermodal services
The 2022 figures in the report show 10.9% growth in vehicle transport via rail, amounting to over 550,000 vehicles. Rail transport’s modal share reached 12.1% in 2022, reflecting the automotive sector’s commitment to the railways.
Challenges, including a lack of train drivers, freight wagons, and locomotives, nonetheless hindered further growth. Both national (+9.3%) and international (+19.2%) transport contributed to the overall increase.
Fall in road transport volumes
Finally, when it comes to road transport, the report found that volumes transported via this mode fell 6.5% in 2022, which constitutes to 1,812,325 vehicles being transported by road. The use of international road transport contracted by 26.2%, but national transport increased by 6.8%.
The reason fall this decline, says the report, is a shortage of capacity that has been exacerbated by a lack of truck drivers.