Italian ports moved almost 250 million tonnes of cargo in the first half of 2025, up 1.2 per cent year on year, reports Saint Petersburg's PortNews.

Growth was driven by containers, which rose 2.6 per cent, and solid bulk, up 18.9 per cent. Liquid bulk declined 3.5 per cent and Ro-Ro traffic fell one per cent.

Passenger activity also increased, with ports handling nearly 30 million passengers, up 5.8 per cent. Cruise passengers reached 5.6 million, also up 5.8 per cent.

On infrastructure and decarbonisation, the update cited progress on shore power, with 25 cold-ironing connection points contracted or installed across Italian ports.

The report highlighted intra-Mediterranean container traffic. Global seaborne trade in 2025 is expected to reach 12.8 billion tonnes, with the container sector projected to grow 14 per cent by 2029. The Mediterranean exceeded Northern Europe in 2024, handling more than 82 million TEU compared with 61 million.

EU-country short-sea traffic in the Mediterranean totals nearly 630 million tonnes. Tanger Med, Valencia and Port Said were identified as the top three Mediterranean container ports, all showing growth in the first half of 2025.

The top five carriers by intra-Mediterranean fleet capacity account for 66.6 per cent of total capacity. Assoporti is the Association of Italian Ports, representing Italy's port system authorities and serving as an institutional coordination body.