Sines, Setubal, Portugal, Jan. 15, 2025 (Lusa) - The port of Sines, in the Setubal region of Portugal, will seek to double its current economic results in the coming years, after recording its best year ever in the containerised cargo segment in 2024, said the head of the port authority.
"Our strategy is very much based on growth [in the Alentejo port] over the next few years," said the head of the Port Authority of Sines and the Algarve (APS), José Luís Cacho, in statements to the Lusa news agency on Wednesday.
For him, the results obtained in 2024 reveal the "great work" that has been done by the port of Sines, in the district of Setúbal, in recent years.
"It's the result of great work, great commitment and a great strategy," he emphasised, adding that this growth “is good for the country” and for the region.
Despite recognising the "difficult scenario" facing the port sector, due to factors such as "the war in Ukraine" and "international volatility", José Luis Cacho was convinced that the port of Sines will "manage to double" its current results in the coming years.
"All this international instability doesn't help us grow, but even so, we managed to grow very strongly [in 2024], around 16%, and in the coming years I believe we'll be able to achieve all the goals we've set for the growth of the port of Sines," in other words, "double what we're doing today," he emphasised.
For the head of the port authority, these good results allow the Alentejo port to "compete" with Spanish ports.
"Our competition really comes down to the Iberian context, a very strong context, especially the ports where transhipment takes place, such as Algeciras, Valencia and Barcelona," he said.
To overcome this competition, "we have to be better, more efficient and have more competitive operating costs," he argued.
In the containerised cargo segment, the port of Alentejo recorded "sustained year-on-year growth of 16%, corresponding to a throughput of 1.9 million TEUs’, i.e. a measure of containers in which one TEU corresponds to a 20-foot container.
In terms of the volume of cargo handled, the port of Sines "recorded 47.8 million tonnes, 11% more than the total recorded in 2023", he said.
According to the port authority, the Container Terminal leads "the handling indices, with 23 million tonnes, followed by the Liquid Bulk Terminal, with 20.8 million tonnes".
Over the last 10 years, between 2014 and 2024, the Sines Container Terminal "has been growing consistently", with "a positive variation of 14.7%".
The expansion of this terminal, which is scheduled to take place until 2028, "will provide the port of Sines with an installed capacity of 4.1 million TEUs", he pointed out.
HYN/AYLS // AYLS
Lusa
