The Port System Authority of the Adriatic Sea Meridionale announced that in the first nine months of 2025 the traffic of goods in the six ports of Bari, Brindisi, Barletta, Manfredonia, Monopoli and Termoli was over 12 million of tons, with a decrease of -7% on the same period of last year.

In communicating the traffic trend since the beginning of the year, the Port Authority of the Southern Adriatic, as well as other Authorities of Italian Port System that increasingly understand their role like that of private companies leading a conglomerate rather than the - more true - one of public companies in charge of managing areas and infrastructures concessions to private companies, highlighted mainly the positive development of various segments of traffic, almost as if the recipients of the communication were shareholders and potential investors rather than a wide range of - the public, precisely - of employees, professionals and others who various titles are interested in knowing in detail what is happened to draw conclusions and indications.

In the absence of more specific information, and Leaving aside the highlights of the "good performance of some strategic product categories" which - according to the Port Authority - "confirm the solidity of the port system of the Southern Adriatic Sea which, despite an economic context overall performance, maintains outstanding performance, settling on traffic volumes that remain well above levels pre-pandemic", from the communication it is roughly deduced that, with regard to goods, the port of Bari recorded results positive in all the main traffic segments, while the port of Brindisi, with over 4.4 million tons of goods has suffered a drop of -22%, a figure - he specified the institution - which has been significantly influenced by the cessation of electricity production by the Federico II Enel power plant and, therefore, from the related of coal landing. With regard to the port of Barletta, the Port Authority has reported a positive trend, while a contraction was the result of traffic in the port of Manfredonia with over 467 thousand tons of goods handled (-20%). For the port of Monopoli it is given to know, more or less, only that the airport "is stands out for its operational liveliness and ability to attract diversified traffic" and, for the port of Termoli, that the airport "consolidates its function as an airport passengers'.

To find out in detail what happened in 2025 at the Traffic of goods in the ports of the Adriatic system South, we will have to wait for the final balance at the end of the year, when the entity will dutifully have to disclose the data annual statistical data in ESPO format. Tabular statistics which, if disseminated perhaps on a quarterly basis during the year, would avoid to the offices of the institution that deal with disseminating information on the trend of traffic, a long work of synthesis that inevitably (?) leaves out some elements. An additional reason to release ESPO data more frequently than it should also involve other Port System Authorities: the annual balance sheet in ESPO format is disclosed in the first months of the following year when the first months of the previous year, for The dynamics of the markets are now history.

Bruno Bellio