Last year freight traffic in the port of Trieste fell by -13%

"Despite the economic situation," commented the President of the of the Port System Authority of the Adriatic Sea Eastern, Zeno D'Agostino - the data give us back an idea of a healthy port and the traffic curve has risen a bit to end of year for some sectors, but we will have to wait a little longer, to return to the numbers from the pre-covid phase».

The reduction in volumes moveded last year is was caused by the contraction of -13% of the traffic of the which fell to 37.6 million tonnes and by the much more pronounced decline (-70%) of the bulk solid at about 514,000 tons. More content the backwardness of miscellaneous goods which, with a total of more than 16 million tonnes, fell by -5%.

The AdSP specified that while the reduction in volumes of miscellaneous goods and especially liquid bulk, starting with oil, are due to the fall in demand that began with the covid, for solid bulk the result is caused by the decrease in metallurgical, mineral and coal products in general following the closure of the Trieste steel plant in Ferriera di Servola.

The port authority pointed out that the most dynamic and vital year of the year just ended turned out to be rolling stock, which recorded growth of +7% on 2019 thanks to the consolidation of the positive results of the last quarter of 2020, reaching 243,500 transited units. Positive trend - announced the AdSP - that in the month of december turned further upwards, establishing a double-digit increase (+25%).

Last year containerized traffic alone - with 776,000 eventful teu - showed a small drop of -2%, decrease -- made known the port authority -- which is due to the decrease in in-service traffic on ro-ro ships from and for Turkey and not to the long-distance one with the Far East. In fact, the container terminal at Pier VII, with 688,000 teu, the crisis is based on the values achieved in the 2019.

As far as rail handling is concerned, in 2020 the 8,000 trains (-17%). The AdSP explained that again it did not weigh the pandemic, but the downsizing of the processing of trains at the Siderurgica Triestina, and specified that, without these, the loss total rail traffic in the port area would have been much smaller (-8%).

As for the port of Monfalcone, also managed by the Port System of the Eastern Adriatic Sea, in 2020 it 2.9 million tonnes of goods, with a decrease in the number of -28% compared to 2019. The solid bulk sector, with 2.0 million tonnes, fell by -31%, while miscellaneous goods lost -20%. The port authority has specified that the negative trend of Portorosega is affected by the was mainly the decline in coal (-95%) with 22,000 Tons. Metallurgical products, which represent the first type of goods by weight with 63% of total traffic of the Isontino port, reported a loss of 21%, while the cellulose, the second largest airport sector by weight, has 710,000 tons (-9%). Car traffic too managed by Cetal, a company controlled by the Grimaldi Group, totaled a negative balance (-40%) with 86,000 units between vehicles and cars of the most common car manufacturers, with a monthly average of more than 7,000 vehicles transported on five average monthly connections with Greece, Israel and Turkey.