In 2024, the impact of transport costs on trade of Italy's goods increased marginally due to exports (+2.5%) and to a greater extent for imports (+4.2%) compared to the lowest values since the beginning of the century touched in 2023. This was announced by the latest survey by the Bank of Italy on the international transport of goods.

Particularly significant was the increase in the costs of the containerized shipping registered last year in due to the increase in the value of freight rates as a result of the change of the routes determined by the attacks of the Houthi rebels in the Red. For Italy - the survey specifies - the increase in costs is was particularly significant on the import side (+43.1%), while the increase in the costs of the exports (+12.9%). The document specifies that the freight rates, recorded in the survey in dollars per TEU container and net of services auxiliaries, had a very significant increase in 2024 for the import flows (+52.4% in dollars/TEU), compared to a substantial stability for export prices. The growth in import freights, which began at the end of 2023 and was concentrated in the first quarter of 2024, mainly concerned the routes that they provide for passage through the Red Sea, including those from China. The attacks of the Houthi rebels led to the hijacking, which still continues, of a large part of the traffic towards the Cape of Good Hope, with a consequent increase in navigation times. The rise in freight rates was pronounced in the sector container, although smaller than that observed between the end of 2020 and 2021 when logistical bottlenecks had Ports worldwide with the recovery of traffic after the pandemic. The development of other factors of cost (ancillary services) and the reduction of average loads for have led to an increase in total freight rates in euros per tonne for both flow directions, even in real terms compared to the low point recorded in 2023.

Regarding the quotations of bulk shipping liquid and solid, those for imports are slightly decreased for the liquid sector (-2.7% in dollars/tonne), both for crude oil and for chemicals (which include liquefied natural gas), affected by the sharp decline in volumes compared to the previous year. For Solid Bulk (grains and minerals) costs have increased; the decline in the question was less pronounced and the more relevant are the effects of geopolitical tensions, the war in the Ukraine in addition to the problems of passage through the Red Sea. Costs (including ancillary services) for liquid bulk cargo also reduced in real terms, while remaining high in comparison historical; for dry bulk there was an increase at a level slightly below the maximum reached in 2008.

In the conventional freight segment, average costs in 2024 per tonne, including ancillary services, for transport of plants, machinery and means of transport, the most of general cargo, have decreased in both nominal terms, affected by the weakness of the economic cycle, and real, falling at the lowest levels of the last twenty years. For "pipes and materials and "chemicals, materials to be used in the construction, forest products" there was instead a increase in freight rates, particularly pronounced for the latter. In the ro-ro goods sector, average costs are overall decreased in 2024, also due to the crisis in the sector automotive and the lower handling of car transporters. On The reduction weighed mainly on flows to/from France and northern Europe; Turkey, the largest country in the world, has also contributed to this for this mode of transport.

As for road transport, in 2024 the average road costs for tonne for both directions of trade flows are remained broadly stable in nominal terms, in a context of weak demand trends at European level and fuel slightly down; remain - the investigation specifies - on rather high values in historical comparison. The trend is differentiated status in geographical terms: in the most France and Germany have increased around +2%. In real terms - i.e. evaluated in relation to the producer price indices of exported manufactured goods and which have fallen slightly compared to 2023 - the costs average road traffic increased moderately (between +1 and +2%). Freight rates per of auxiliary services on full loads had a decrease of about -3%, offset by a moderate reduction in medium loads and an increase in auxiliary costs, in particular those of brokerage and handling of goods; for loads partial (groupage) rates have remained stable on average.

In 2024, the average costs per tonne of rail transport, at net of road traction upstream and downstream of the mode on the rail, have increased overall, to a greater extent due to those for export. The rise affected almost all areas geographical: was less pronounced for the most (France and Germany) and stronger for the most such as the Baltic countries, the United Kingdom and Scandinavia. Distinguishing between the types of cargo, the average costs have increased more in the bulk sector than for containers. The war in Ukraine has influenced these dynamics, making it particularly difficult to difficult trade with China through the so-called "Silk Road". Average costs also in real terms Railway flows have risen in both directions.

In 2024, average air transport costs increased for imports (+11.2%), driven by the strong increase in volumes moved, in particular by China (+26%), as a result of a modal recomposition resulting from the tensions in the Red Sea. Are On the other hand, exports fell (-8.8%), especially for the reduction in freight rates to North America, the main destination. In real terms, average import costs are the decline of the previous three-year period has stopped, while for export markets, the decline that has led to the reported to values close to the lowest values of the last twenty years.