In the period April 2023-March 2024, the ports of Venice and Chioggia recorded a total traffic of 23,462,527 tonnes of goods handled: compared to the period April 2022-March 2023, Venice handled 22,667,289 tonnes of goods, recording a decrease of 6.8% while in Chioggia there was an increase of 28.2%, with 795,238 tonnes of goods moved
On a quarterly basis, from January to March 2024, 5,551,006 tonnes passed through the docks of the Venetian port with a decrease of 9.8% compared to the period January-March 2023, a figure which, however, is affected by the particularly positive performances recorded in March last year.
The data referring to the period January-March 2024 show a growth in liquid bulk in Venice with a +6.4%, equal to 1,703,186 tonnes compared to the first quarter of 2023 and a decrease, equal to -25.4% , of solid bulk cargoes with 1,522,508 tonnes handled. A decrease which is heavily affected by the sudden drop in fossil coal and lignite (-61.45%) linked to the national energy strategy.
Also in the first quarter of 2024, general cargo showed a minus sign (equal to -7.4% compared to the January-March 2023 quarter), with 2,325,312 tonnes handled; in contrast, Ro-Ro increased by +7.9% with 594,782 tonnes. On the contrary, the already expected decline in the container sector continues, due to the Suez Canal crisis which is affecting the majority of Italian and eastern Mediterranean ports, including the Veneto port. In Venice, in the first quarter of 2024, containers decreased by 12.9% (with 112,189 TEUs handled) compared to the first three months of the previous year while, on an annual basis, the decrease recorded was equal to 8.6%. .
For Chioggia, the first three months of this year instead confirm good growth in all sectors, +40.7% for 166,522 tonnes compared to the same period of 2023. A trend linked almost entirely to solid bulk cargoes which show a growth of 24 .5% with 116,684 tonnes moved.
The passenger traffic data linked to cruise tourism are very positive thanks to the new sustainable cruise model inaugurated following Decree 103 of 2021; in the first quarter of this year alone there were 11,622 passengers and 13 cruise ships that called at Porto Marghera. Since the beginning of the year, 2,950 passengers have had the opportunity to call at the port of Chioggia (+106% compared to the period January-March 2023) on board 5 cruise ships.
“As many analysts have already predicted – comments Fulvio Lino Di Blasio, president of AdSPMAS – 2024 for Italian ports and therefore also for Venetian ones will be a rather complex year on the maritime traffic front due to the persistence of international tensions which are causing a not favorable for the world economy and, consequently, for the local economy and the Adriatic in particular. It is a period that is putting the entire sector to the test, the same one which, as already mentioned by Federlogistica, has seen maritime traffic go through four international crises head-on in just a few years and maintain its global centrality. In this sense, the data of substantial stability, with a growth of 2%, of the commercial sector in the period April 2023-March 2024 should be read, by virtue of the performance of the Ro-Ro and steel sectors, for the ports of Venice and Chioggia. For this reason the System Authority, with the efforts of the entire port community, continues to work to maintain high competitiveness of our ports with all those activities and projects aimed at creating value for our territory: from the works financed by the PNRR and tenders for the excavation of the canals for the construction of the new cruise terminal and the future container terminal in Montesyndial, through investments linked to the new concessions and, soon and with an active role of the Port, with the Simplified Logistics Zone”.
Source: Adnkronos
