The major European ports experienced a year-on-year rise in throughput during the fourth quarter of 2024. The volume of container movements grew in both the large and medium-sized port sample groups. While total calls declined year on year in the large port group, they saw an increase in the medium-sized port sample group.

Key highlights from the report include:

Average call size at main European ports increased year on year (y/y) in the fourth quarter of 2024. The large ports, which handle more than 4 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) per year, experienced a 9% y/y increase collectively while the medium ports, handling between 0.5 million and 4 million TEUs per year each, saw a 20% y/y growth as a group.

The large sample ports saw a 3% y/y decrease in total vessel calls, while the medium port sample group saw a 4% y/y increase.
Operational performance declined in both sample groups. Port-moves-per-hour (PMPH), berth-moves-per-hour (BMPH), and vessel waiting times showed worse performance in Q4 2024 compared to a year ago.

Average import and export container dwell time grew in most ports from both sample groups year on year.

In the large ports sample, some ports showed improvement in their transshipment dwell time during Q4 2024. Piraeus in Greece was able to end the fourth quarter of 2024 with a lower transshipment dwell time than at the start of the quarter (-25%). More than half of the medium ports ended the fourth quarter with a higher transshipment dwell time than at the start of the quarter.
Source: S&P Global Market Intelligence