In 2024, the EU sea ports handled around 3.4 billion tonnes of freight (total gross weight). While this freight volume was the same as in 2023, it remained lower than the highest value recorded in the decade 2014-2024 (3.6 billion tonnes in 2019).

Rotterdam in the Netherlands maintained its position as the top maritime freight transport port in the EU, handling 397 million tonnes of freight in 2024. Antwerp-Bruges in Belgium followed with 244 million tonnes, ahead of Hamburg in Germany with 97 million tonnes.

Among the top 10 EU ports, 4 reported an increase in tonnes of freight handled in 2024 compared with the previous year. Valencia (+3.6%) and Algeciras (+2.6%) in Spain had the biggest increases. At the other end, Constanţa in Romania (-14.3%) and Gdańsk in Poland (-11.0%) reported the biggest declines.

This information comes from data on maritime transport of goods published by Eurostat today. This article presents a handful of findings from the more detailed Statistics Explained article on maritime transport of goods.

Source dataset: mar_mg_aa_pwhd

The largest share of goods handled by main EU ports in 2024 was coal and lignite, crude petroleum and natural gas with 19.0%. This was followed by coke and petroleum products, which accounted for 16.5% of the total volume. Metal ores and other mining and quarrying products made up 7.4%; chemicals, rubber, plastics and nuclear fuel collectively accounted for 7.2%; and products of agriculture, hunting, forestry and fisheries added up to 6.3%. Food products, beverages, and tobacco represented 4.9% of the total goods handled by EU ports.

Source dataset: mar_mg_am_cwhg

Source: Eurostat