The collapse of the Morandi Bridge in Genoa on 14 August 2018 and the damage wreaked by the violent sea storm on 29 October in the Port of Savona have had severe repercussions on the entire port cluster and are set to continue to have an impact in the medium term.
Within this framework, after a long period of growth, the Port of Genoa has suffered a slowdown in certain commodity sectors. Although the ports of the Western Ligurian Sea Port Authority reported a total of 70.3 million tons of cargo in 2018, a +1.7% rise on the previous year, it is important to note that in the first 7 months of the year, the Ports of Genoa (Genoa – Prà – Savona – Vado) had registered a 4.3% growth rate in terms of total tonnage. Focusing on the Ports of Genoa and Prà, total cargo throughput in 2018 remained relatively stable, a +0.3% advance on 2017 and a -0.5% decline in container traffic. Whilst overall, the Ports of Genoa (Genoa – Prà – Savona – Vado) reported a +0.3% increase in total container traffic, with a total of 2,674,404 teus handled in 2018.
Breakbulk, together with dry and liquid bulk trade, were also hit by the damage wreaked on the Ports of Savona and Vado by the October sea storm. In fact, breakbulk throughput (a total of over 15 million tons) slowed down from a +9.5% rise in the first 7 months of the year, to a final +6.7% advance on the previous year; whilst solid bulk (over 3.4 million tons) dropped from a +15.3% increase to +12% compared to 2017, and liquid bulk (22.2 million tons) declined from a +3.1% advance to +1.6%.
The passenger sector continued to perform strongly in 2018. The Ports of Genoa handled over 1.9 million cruise passengers, a +4.5% rise on the previous year, and consolidate their leadership in the cruise port industry, second-ranking in Italy and third in the Mediterranean. With a surge of +9.3%, the Port of Genoa, MSC homeport, handled over 1 million passengers (1,011,398), with 229 calls (+17 compared to 2017) and a +16% increase in transit passengers. Whilst the Costa Crociere-operated Savona Palacrociere Terminal reported a slight drop, -0.7%, in total passenger throughput, with a total of 848,487 passengers registered in 2018, due to the construction works which are due to commence shortly at quay level.
Although the tragic incidents of 2018 did not seem to impact on the upward trend in the Ports of Genoa cruise passenger sector, ferries suffered a slight setback: a slowdown of -0.5% for a total of 2,432,666 ferry passengers. In this case, the Port of Genoa remained stable with over 2 million passengers (+0.1%), whilst the Port of Savona Vado experienced a slight decrease, -3.8% for a total of 352,219 passengers, due to the disruption to scheduled ferry services caused by the extensive damage to the ferry boats moored at the port on the night of the violent seastorm.
The President of the Western Ligurian Sea Port Authority, Paolo Emilio Signorini, commented: “The lack of growth reported by the Ports of Genoa in 2018 is a departure from the targets and goals set by our overall development strategies. In the immediate future, port activities will continue to feel the effects of the tragic incidents of the previous year, with the outlook for 2019 indicating that trade is due to remain stable. However, we are working together with the Liguria Region, the City of Genoa and Central Government to implement the provisions passed by the Italian Parliament in the aftermath of the collapse of the Morandi Bridge, in compliance with the Law of Stability for 2019, to return rapidly to a path of growth, in line with the potential and the rightful ambitions of our Port Authority.”
