In the last quarter of this year, on the degree of connection of European nations to the maritime transport network global containerized system, the effects of the the weakening of the continent's economies and the change in the of the maritime routes linking Europe to Asia and other regions due to the need to avoid ship transits in the Red Sea region, and therefore in the Suez Canal, due to of the repetition since the end of last year of the attacks of the Yemeni Houthi rebels to ships in the area. Except of Slovenia and Croatia, which have kept their Connection index to the network of scheduled services containerized, in the last quarter of 2024 an increase in of the index was recorded in European countries ports whose ports have been handling since the beginning of this year higher volumes of transit containerized traffic, while continued to decline in Mediterranean transhipment ports no longer scheduled services that have been diverted to the route that it passes around the Cape of Good Hope and circumnavigates Africa.

The latest survey relating to the fourth quarter of 2024 of Liner Shipping Connectivity Index (LSCI), the index defined by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) to assess the degree of connection of nations to the global grid of containerized shipping services, exhibition in Europe a further improvement of the connection to this network of the Spain, a nation since mid-2022 shows the most important European LSCI index and which for the last quarter of this year is 426.1, with an increase of +3.3% on the fourth quarter of 2023. Growing also the degree of connection of the second European nation to intensity of connection to the grid, the United Kingdom, whose index was 379.9 (+1.4%). Among other nations with a high degree of connection to the grid, are in the indices of the Netherlands fell with 369.5 (-5.4%), Belgium with 345.8 (-1.1%), Germany with 306.1 (-3.7%), Italy with 282.3 (-4.1%), Turkey with 275.9 (-3.0%), France with 266.6 (-1.1%), Greece with 180.7 (-10.6%) and Malta with 105.6 (-22.3%). In addition, the LSCI indices of Portugal with 185.1 (+1.3%), Sweden with 120.5 (+5.7%) and Slovenia with 76.0 (+1.0%). The indices of Poland are stable with 133.5 and Croatia with 61.2.

As for the degree of connection of individual ports to the network of global containerized shipping that UNCTAD assesses through its Port Liner Shipping Connectivity Index (PLSCI), an index that identifies the integration of a port into this global network, in the fourth quarter of 2024 was the PLSCI index of the port of Genoa, which is the main Italian gateway port, a result of 415.9 (-6.6%) and also the PLSCI index of the port of Gioia Tauro, which is the main national transhipment port, a result of 317.8 (-3.9%). In decrease were also shown by the PLSCI indices of the ports of Salerno with 184.8 (-22.6%), Livorno with 156.0 (-27.2%), Naples with 130.9 (-23.2%), Venice with 106.3 (-1.9%), Vado Ligure with 86.4 (-22.6%), Civitavecchia with 85.7 (-9.6%), Ravenna with 83.2 (-3.3%), Ancona with 78.1 (-4.0%), Marina di Carrara with 26.5 (-21.6%) and Cagliari with 26.1 (-28.3%). Among the Italian ports with the largest connection to the global network of scheduled services, only the PLSCI indices of the ports of La Spezia are growing. Spezia with 255.2 (+5.6%) and Trieste with 158.6 (+1.3%).