Upward Trend for the Ports of Rome in the First Six Months of 2021

Civitavecchia, 19th July 2021 – We receive and publish

The upward trend continues in the Ports of Rome and Lazio, especially in those of Civitavecchia and Gaeta, as shown by the traffic data for the first six months of 2021.

As regards the network of the three ports of Lazio, the total cargo traffic amounts to 6 million tonnes, with a growth of 13.5% compared to the first half of 2020, a period partially affected by Coronavirus pandemic.

Specifically, the Lazio ports network closes the first semester with - 6.1%, in the transport of liquid goods and with + 23.7% in solid goods.

Port of Civitavecchia

Civitavecchia, the main port of the network, recorded the most significant increase with +20.8%, closely followed by the port of Gaeta, which recorded an increase of 19.6%. The port of Fiumicino, on the other hand, saw a decrease of 18.2% in liquid bulk: this port only handles refined oil products for the nearby airport, so the negative trend is also due to the interruption of air connections because of the Covid emergency.

The port of Civitavecchia has experienced a significant growth in all goods categories.

Liquid bulks, essentially refined products, increased to 7.6% (+26,492 tonnes), while dry bulks increased to 25% (+213,002 tonnes). Among the latter, coal (+23.1%; +150,655 tonnes), metallurgical products (+41.5%; +47,282), raw minerals (+211.3; +7,534), chemical products (+112.3%; 4,550) and "other dry bulks" (+9%; +5,731) increased. Within the "bulk cargo" category, for which the increase was 21.1% (+508,086 tonnes), there was a growth of 23.8% (+470,202 tonnes for a total of 2,448,549 tonnes) in the Ro/Ro traffic and a 8.9% (+37,996 tonnes for a total of 463,930 tonnes) in containerised goods.

Container Traffic

With reference to container traffic, there has been a -9.8% (-5,229), but the negative sign is essentially due - and with a reversal of the trend - to a significant decrease in "empty" containers (-28.7%) while "full" recorded an increase (+0.2%; +55).

Traffic of Passengers and Vehicles 

Passenger traffic data also show a clear recovery, with an increase of more than 34% (+70,679) and a total of 277,241 passengers.

Still negative, and it could not be otherwise due to the continuing health emergency, are the cruise traffic data, with a total of 75,133 cruise passengers and a decrease of -56.6% (-98,023). A trend reversal is expected in the second half of the year, depending on Covid-19 situation.

Finally, also the "vehicles" category grew by 26.3% (+57,855), with a substantial increase in the "heavy goods vehicles" subcategory (+27.8%; +26,942).

The President's Words

The president of the Adsp Pino Musolino has expressed his satisfaction for his first semester which, even if still strongly affected by the pandemic, shows a trend of recovery:

"The recovery of more than 20% of the total tonnage of traffic - says Musolino - compared to the first six months of 2020 clearly shows that the Lazio ports network, with particular mention to the port of Civitavecchia and also to the port of Gaeta , is growing not only in terms of passengers - whose data still suffer from the Covid effect, although the cruise sector has resumed activity precisely from here - but above all in terms of goods transport.

The data concerning containers should not be misleading, on the contrary, I consider it very positive: there has only been a decrease in empty containers, while full containers have increased. This data, - empty + full, clearly shows a positive change: the port of Civitavecchia is becoming a gateway for containers and is no longer a simple "exchange place". This is a clear sign that our action is starting to bear fruit and that the market is recognising the competitive potential of our port".

President of the AdSP Pino Musolino