With a year-on-year decline of -12.0% recorded last year July followed by decreases of -25.7% the following month and -16.0% in September, the port of Taranto closed the entire third quarter of this year with a continuation of the negative trend of volumes of goods handled having totaled 3.28 in the period million tonnes, with a significant reduction of -17.9% on the third quarter of 2023. The contraction of the volumes of goods at unloading alone, which amounted to 1.83 million tonnes (-24.0%), while those at embarkation increased amounted to 1.45 million tons (-8.6%).

As for the main types of goods, in the period July-September 2024 the total bulk traffic alone was 1.64 million tonnes (-23.7%) and that of liquid bulk cargo of 1.17 million tons (+7.4%). Goods in containers were up with 60 thousand tons (+103.2%), an increase determined by the growth of +684.8% marked by the in September alone with 52 thousand tons handled. The traffic of other miscellaneous goods was 403 thousand tonnes (-44.0%).

In the third quarter of 2024, the cruise traffic in the Apulian port of call having been of 91 thousand passengers (-4.3%), of which 43 thousand at disembarkation/embarkation (-20,4%).

In the first nine months of this year, the port of Taranto handled a total of 8.67 million tons of cargo, with a decrease of -21.7% over the same period in 2023, of which 4.65 million tons of cargo at unloading (-28.3%) and 4.02 million of tons of loading at embarkation (-12.2%). The total figure for the Solid bulk was 4.23 million tons (-27.1%) and that of liquid bulk cargo of 3.03 million tons (-0.4%). Containerized goods amounted to 141 thousand tons (+9.9%) and other miscellaneous goods to 1.27 million tons (-39.3%). The traffic of cruise passengers was 132 thousand passengers (+3.9%), of which 56 thousand as home ports (-18.3%).