Croatian seaports see decrease in passengers but increase in volume of goods handled

Croatian seaports see a decrease in passengers but an increase in the volume of goods handled this summer

ZAGREB, Nov 21 (Hina) – Of 16.1 million passengers in Croatian seaports in the first nine months of 2020, 10.6 million travelled only in the third quarter, which is a 44% drop from the same quarter of 2019 and the lowest number of passengers in that quarter in the last ten years.

“The decrease in the number of passengers and vehicles in national and international traffic in Croatian seaports is due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” the national statistical office (DZS) has said.

The 16.1 million passengers who passed through Croatian seaports in the first nine months of this year is a drop of 48% compared to the same period of 2019.

The number of vessels that sailed into Croatian seaports in the first nine months was 34.7% down to 194,200, but the volume of goods transported was up 1.4% to around 15.5 million tonnes.

Summer sees greater volume of goods handled by seaports

A slightly greater increase of 7.5% in the volume of goods handled by seaports was reported only in Q3 this year, when 5.5 million tonnes of goods were transshipped, which the statistical office says was owing to a 15.1% increase in liquid cargo and an 11% increase in bulk cargo as against Q3 2019. On the other hand, the volume of container goods dropped by 9.7%.

Fewer ships, passengers and passenger vehicles

Except for the 44% drop in the number of passengers, Q3 also saw fewer ships in seaports – 99,500 or 33% less than in Q3 2019.

The number of passenger cars handled by seaports in Q3 dropped by 25.2% to 2.3 million, while the number of buses dropped even more, by 74.2% to around 5,500.

The seaport of Split saw the highest number of passenger vehicles and passengers, 616,400 (down 22% from Q3 2019) and 1.3 million (50% down) respectively.

In terms of the number of passengers, it was followed by the port of Zadar, with 720,000 passengers, down 35.2%.