Traffic up by 3.4% in the first nine months of the year, for Italian ports, compared to the same period last year, with over 362 million tons of goods handled: an increase that exceeds, by 2.7%, also the eventful one in 2019.
The data for the first nine months of traffic, published by Assoporti, the association that brings together the Italian airports, confirm the trend towards recovery. In particular, containers increased by 5.2%, liquid bulk by 4.4%, solid bulk by 8%, other goods by 2.2% and only ro-ro traffic reports a negative sign: – 1 .5% . Passenger transport is also showing signs of improvement: overall, the first nine months of the year marked an increase of 38.3% compared to the same period of 2021, even if a 6.3% gap remains to be filled compared to 2019, pre -Covid.
The recovery of passengers continues. The loss, which between 2019 and 2020 had been 55.5%, has been recovered, almost two thirds of the passengers lost between 2019 and 2020 have been recovered, even if the numbers remain below the 50 million mark (they had been 51,429,772 in the first nine months of 2019, 34,995,499 in the same period of 2021 and 48,399,325 in 2022). Cruises in particular mark an important trend reversal, even if the numbers (6,528,761) are still low: almost -30% compared to pre-Covid levels. “The war in Ukraine continues to inflict very heavy blows on maritime transport, in particular that connected to raw materials and energy – says the president of Assoporti, Rodolfo Giampieri -. A reasoned optimism leads us to hope that this situation will have to be resolved in a hopefully short time”.