LISBON: The commercial port at Faro has seen movement completely dry up after failing to record any movement since June. This comes as the now deserted port has failed to attract any new business after its only client in 2016, Cimpor, decided to suspend operations at its quarry in Loulé. The hard times currently experienced by the Algarve’s biggest port, which set a new export record in terms of tonnage in 2013, were revealed in the latest report published by the Authority for Mobility and Transport (AMT).
The AMT report reveals that movement at the port fell by 45 percent during the first nine months of the year when compared with 2015. With no activity in Faro since June, this number is expected to fall even more substantially during the final quarter of the current year. The Cimpor quarry located alongside the A22 motorway in Loulé, had for many years been the port’s biggest client, and in 2016, it had become its only one. But with the continued contraction of the building industry, and the cancelation of major cement export contracts to Algeria, Cimpor opted to temporarily cease operations. Cimpor, which laid off 57 workers at the Loulé quarry back in September, said it was actively procuring new markets with the aim of re-initiating operations during the course of 2017.
