Following the unprecedented economic crisis of 2020 and the subsequent slowdown in global trade, forecasts now point to a recovery in 2021, albeit set to be fraught with stumbling blocks, ranging from the spread of the virus and other variants to the evolution of future geopolitical relations.
With reference to the Italian port industry, in the opening month of the year, the Ports of Genoa, Savona and Vado Ligure recorded total cargo throughput of 5,029,731 tons, a -6.3% fall on the corresponding period in 2020 (pre-pandemic). Specifically, box trade continues to remain stable and 2021 opens in line with the previous year, 221,547 TEUs, a -0.8% dip compared to 2020. Whilst containerised traffic dropped by -4% in the new year, driven by a -4.2% decrease in full containers, in part compensated by an increase in empty containers, +9.8%, in demand in the Ports of Genoa catchment area to cater for exports which have recently picked up (+11.2% full containers in export in January 2021), whilst imports have fallen (-14.5% full containers in import). In the opening month of 2021, exports account for over 61% of containerised traffic handled by the Western Ligurian Sea Ports.
Conventional cargo, which groups together ro-ro tonnage and specialised cargo, dipped by -3.6% (1.045.252 tons vs 1.084.638), year-on-year. Solid bulk performed strongly, a +6.1% increase on the corresponding period in 2020, whilst total liquid bulk declined by -14.9%
The Passenger Ports of Genoa and Savona continue to suffer a severe setback, with the cruise sector plummeting by -98.2%, due to the prolonged lockdown measures at the beginning of the year which once again brought cruise calls to a halt across the country, and ferry passenger throughput plunging by -47.9%.
Traffic Ports of Genoa – January 2021
Traffic Ports of Genova and Pra’ – January 2021
Traffic Ports of Savona and Vado Ligure – January 2021
Traffic Volumes Q4 2020
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