The port of Taranto cannot shake off its traditional industrial vocation, despite repeated attempts of diversification started at least twenty-five years coinciding with the inauguration of its container terminal at the Pier Multi-sector ( of 2 July 2001). And this vocation is still dominating the recent fate of the Apulian airport, which is at the mercy of the bulk volumes, in particular solid bound bulk to the steel supply chain.

For many years, dry bulk cargo dominated the scene. Lately, it is the liquid ones that support the activity of the port. The crisis in the steel sector linked to the former Ilva is in fact, continuing to have a strong impact on the Apulian airport which in the third quarter of this year recorded a of 2.76 million tons of goods, with a total of increase of +9.1% over the same period of 2025 attributable in to the growth of liquid cargoes. The latter sector is driven by the volumes of petroleum products from the local refinery Eni and crude oil from the Lucanian Tempa field Red, and closed the July-September period of 2026 with 1.51 million tons (+15.6%). Dry bulk cargo, on the other hand, despite the increase of +551.6% recorded in July, they closed the third quarter of this year with a decline of -30.7% dropping to 617 thousand tons.

Contributing to the quarterly global increase were Conventional goods also rose by +95.7% to 604 thousand tons, and goods in containers which, with 25 thousand tons, recorded an increase of +22.8%. However, the latter two sectors continue to be characterized by a considerable traffic volatility, signalling that episodic increases in of the activity may not be an indication of a recovery structural.

In the first nine months of 2026, the port of Taranto handled 8.99 million tonnes of goods, with a decrease of -5.7% on the same period of last year. Liquid bulk cargo, with 4.35 million tonnes, recorded an increase of +31.8%, while solid ones fell by -38.2% to 2.80 million tonnes. Conventional freight traffic is 1.59 million tonnes (-3.1%) and that of goods containerized by 255 thousand tons (+249.4%) and was Built with a container handling of 22,921 TEUs (+646,1%). A bit little for a container terminal that would have a annual capacity of two million TEUs, even if it suffers from structural limits such as insufficiently deep seabeds.