The port of Trieste has never stopped, even in the hardest months of the pandemic and of the protests against the obligation of the green pass, confirming its centrality in the national logistics system. And above all confirming that the railway is in the DNA of the Julian port. Also in 2021 Trieste was the first railway port in Italy, with 9,304 trains handled (+ 15.13% on 2020). If we also add to this data the railway traffic of the port of Monfalcone, with which Trieste forms a system, the freight trains handled, that is, in and out of both ports, exceed 10 thousand (to be precise, they are 10,621).
This is unique in Italy and in Europe
Zeno D’Agostino, president of the Port Authority says: “It is a unique fact in Italy and in Europe, which justifies and supports the important rail investment policy that the Port Authority, Rfi, the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region and the Ministry of Infrastructures are developing in this area also thanks to funding from the NRP and the complementary fund ». In particular, the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (Pnrr), for the strengthening and modernization of the Trieste-Monfalcone port system, has allocated 416.5 million euros (409.5 million for Trieste and 7 million for Monfalcone).
The balance of activities in 2021
Yesterday the Port Authority released the balance of the activity for the year 2021. The numbers show that the port of Trieste last year started a strong recovery on the first year of the pandemic: + 2.23% total volumes, with more than 55 million tons handled. Furthermore, the Julian airport is among the leaders in terms of sustainability on a European scale: already today, over 50% of the containers and 41% of the semi-trailers take the routes of Central-Eastern Europe through the intermodal services that depart and arrive daily. from / to Trieste. A trend in total contrast with the average for Italy and other European countries, if we consider that the EU establishes to reach the threshold of 30% for rail cargo traffic by 2030, and 50% by 2050. Observes the Authority port: «All results that underline the strength of the airport’s operations, despite the numerous and heavy obstacles that appeared last year. Among them, the effects of the ongoing pandemic and the no green pass events in front of gate IV, which limited the port’s activity in October, cannot be underestimated. Despite these difficulties, the final outcome remains largely positive and promising ».
The new logistics platform of Hhla
The salient events of 2021 include: the arrival of the first ship to the new logistics platform managed by Hhla, terminal operator of the port of Hamburg (March); strengthening of the railway connection with Nuremberg (April); the inauguration of the first foreign promotion center in Budapest, Hungary and the reactivation of the railway connection with the stations of Servola and Aquilinia (September). These two airports arose respectively in the Thirties and Sixties of the last century for the development of the Julian industrial area (areas of the former Aquila and the former ironworks of Servola). They were decommissioned in the nineties and for a few months the Italian railway network has reactivated them no longer for the transport of industrial and steel products, but for the transport of goods headed by the port. At the moment the port of Trieste is connected, by rail, with Austria, Germany, Belgium, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary and, in Italy, with Pordenone, Padua, Brescia, Milan. As regards the container sector, 2021 discounts a decline of -2.42% equal to 757.243 TEU handled. A decline that goes back to multiple factors: pandemic, blockade of Suez, increase in freight rates, difficulties in finding empty containers and, in October, demonstrations. Concauses that have inevitably led to negative repercussions on containerized traffic.