Freight forwarding Ibiza – transport to and from the island

Why Ibiza needs its own planning

Ibiza (Eivissa in Catalan) has about 163,000 permanent residents – roughly a sixth of Mallorca's population – yet in August Ibiza and neighbouring Formentera host more than twice that number of people at once. Hotels, clubs, restaurants and private villas therefore stock up before the season and only top up during it. Like the rest of the Balearics, the island receives nearly all its food, drinks, building materials and consumer goods in trucks on scheduled ships, with volumes peaking in summer.

Mainland ports and the crossing

Freight-carrying ferries reach Ibiza from Barcelona, Valencia and Dénia, all arriving at the port of Ibiza Town. Sant Antoni has no regular mainland service, so even a delivery for the west coast lands in town and continues by road – distances on the island are short. Dénia offers the shortest sea crossing; from Barcelona the voyage is much longer.

From Prague the road leg runs via Rozvadov, Germany, France and La Jonquera, then down the AP-7 past Barcelona and Castellón: about 2,100 km to Valencia and around 100 km more to Dénia. The extra driving is balanced by the short crossing. The final choice depends on the next sailing with freight space; a full truckload usually reaches Ibiza four to six working days after loading in the Czech Republic. More on the port region is on our Valencia page.

The summer vehicle cap – and why freight is exempt

Balearic Law 5/2024 on controlling the influx of vehicles to Eivissa allows the island council to set a period in which non-resident vehicles need an authorisation to enter. It was first applied from 1 June to 30 September 2025 and targets tourists' cars, rental fleets and camper vans. Vehicles transporting goods and used for commercial distribution are expressly exempt, as are construction machines.

In practice your consignment needs no permit. A private car bringing an installation crew is a different matter and should be checked in advance. What the season does affect is ship capacity: summer sailings are busy with passenger traffic too, so book early.

Typical cargo in both directions

• Inbound: furniture, lighting, sound systems and kitchens for hotels, clubs and restaurants; villa and apartment fit-outs; drinks and shelf-stable food; building materials and tiles for off-season refurbishments; stage and event equipment.
• Outbound: equipment returning after the season, returned goods and relocations – far smaller volumes than inbound.

The island's best-known product is sea salt from the Ses Salines natural park in the south. It is harvested from September to November, recently around 65,000 tonnes a season, and much of it is loaded onto ships straight from the salt-works jetty – bound, for instance, for the Faroe Islands for curing cod or the UK for road gritting. For road freight to Central Europe, bagged salt on pallets can join a groupage consignment.

Single pallets travel by pallet groupage through a mainland port; a complete hotel fit-out goes as a full truck with the driver on board, unloading directly on site. An unaccompanied trailer makes sense for large projects where it stays on the island for staged unloading.

Tax status, documents and delivery details

For tax purposes Ibiza is simply part of Spain: the Balearics are inside the EU customs territory and the Spanish VAT territory, so goods from the Czech Republic move without a customs declaration. The Canary Islands are different – they sit outside the EU VAT area. For Ibiza a CMR note and invoice or delivery note are enough, plus a temperature record for food. Hazardous goods such as pool or cleaning chemicals must be declared to the shipping line before sailing.

For rural villas, tell us the width of the access road, whether a forklift is on site and who will receive the goods; narrow lanes call for a smaller truck with a tail lift. Our dispatch desk works weekdays 8:00–18:00 and usually replies within 30 minutes. For an indicative price, use the calculator.

For transport to the rest of the country, see our page on Spain.

For the larger island and Palma, see freight to Mallorca.