Bad, very bad and one might say very bad in the goods sector, good enough to reach the podium at a national level, in the passenger sector which includes cruise passengers and people who reach the islands, Spain and North Africa. In short, Civitavecchia is a port with two faces. Further confirmation in this regard came with the awaited publication by Assoporti, the association that brings together the Italian port authorities, of “Port Infographics”, i.e. the overall 2023 traffic data of the peninsula’s maritime ports.
Three sectors were taken into consideration: that of goods, which includes, among other things, liquid bulk, solid bulk, containers and ro-ro traffic; the specific one which concerns TEUs, a unit of measurement for containers and, finally, the passenger one. Well, Civitavecchia is unfortunately in the last places in the field of traditional mercantile traffic. As regards goods, with just over 9 million tonnes, it is in sixteenth place nationally, preceded by many geographically less important entities because they are not linked in any way to Rome, or to the most important Italian market, such as Salerno, Milazzo and Ancona. In the freight sector, Civitavecchia recorded a tonnage loss of more than 10% last year. The decline was mainly in solid bulk cargo and in particular coal, but also in containerized goods and ro-ro. In the specific container sector, the Civitavecchia port continues to play an absolutely marginal role, occupying fourteenth place in the national ranking, preceded by less prestigious entities, such as Marina di Carrara and Cagliari. Things are definitely better in the context of passengers, thanks above all to cruise tourism. In this particular area, Civitavecchia, with its 4 million passengers overall, occupies third national position, preceded only by Messina-Villa San Giovanni and Naples. In short, nothing new under the sun and yet another confirmation of what we have been writing for years, inevitably annoying those who try to provide a different image from the one unequivocally revealed by the numbers.
