Impact of the Hormuz crisis on Italian ports: container volumes down by 4.6%

A 4.6% decline in container throughput at Italian ports in the first quarter of 2026. This is according to new figures released by the Research Centre of Fedespedi, the National Federation of International Freight Forwarders, at its annual general meeting, held this year in Genoa to mark the association’s 80th anniversary.

The long-term impact of the conflict in Iran, including the crisis in the Strait of Hormuz, which was highlighted during the freight forwarders’ meeting, is now beginning to affect Italy as well. Analysis by the research centre, in fact, highlights the initial effects of international tensions on the flow of goods to Italy and outlines the possible development of new trade routes. In the first quarter of 2026, container handling in Italian ports recorded, as mentioned, a 4.6% decline compared to the same period in 2025. The slowdown, according to the Fedespedi report, is concentrated in particular on the Adriatic coast, where the decline in Trieste (-23.6%) stands out, and also affects some Tyrrhenian ports, from Savona (-14.1%) to Genoa (-4.9%). The port of Naples also recorded a slight decline (-3.5%).

Bucking the trend, the LSCT terminal in La Spezia (+7.8%), Salerno (+7.8%) and Venice (+5.8%) have seen growth, whilst Ravenna remains largely stable (+0.1%). The research centre points out that the Italian figures are moving in the opposite direction to the rest of the Mediterranean basin: the main non-Italian ports in the area handled a total of 8.7 million TEUs (20-foot containers), an increase of 7.1%, driven by the performance of ports such as the Suez Canal Container Terminal (in Port Said), Rijeka and Mersin (in Turkey). ‘The decline in container volumes therefore appears to be a phenomenon specific to the national port system,’ the report states, ‘even in a context where Italian exports continue to grow, albeit at a more modest pace (+1.3% in the first quarter, compared to +3.3% recorded in 2025).’

However, if we analyse the data whilst also taking into account the type of container traffic at the ports, as Alessandro Pitto, president of Fedespedi, points out, ‘one realises that, if we exclude transhipment ports and those in Turkey, all the Mediterranean gateway ports are suffering, although Spain is faring slightly better than Italia. In short, the data show the effects of geopolitical tensions on global trade, but also the resilience of a sector accustomed to operating in constantly changing contexts.”

According to Fedespedi’s research department, the case of Trieste deserves special attention. As regards container traffic, the port of Trieste is ‘suffering from the reorganisation of alliances among shipping companies, which has redrawn routes and reduced transit volumes. In terms of ro-ro traffic, however, the port is showing a different trend: in the first quarter of 2026, ro-ro traffic (ships for the transport of rolling stock, ed.) from Turkey grew by 6.4%’.