Port of Gioia Tauro: a 100-million plan for electrification
Over the years, it has faced the threat of closures, dismantling and downsizing. The crisis of 2017 and the risk of a gradual shutdown in 2024, due to the new environmental standards set by the European Union for the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). Yet the port of Gioia Tauro has stayed the course, and traffic volumes have never fallen, not even during the Covid pandemic or when the Suez Canal was blocked. Since 2019, it has been a record-breaking transhipment port, handling 4.5 million TEUs in 2025 (a figure representing 14 per cent growth). And judging by the volumes for the first six months, it looks set to remain so in 2026: Italia’s largest container transhipment hub.
“And today, with a new structure brought about by major infrastructure projects,” emphasises Paolo Piacenza, the new president of the Port System Authority for the Southern Tyrrhenian and Ionian Seas, “ “The aim is energy transition and environmental sustainability, through which we are responding to the guidelines set out in European legislation on clean energy in transport, with plans for a radical expansion of the infrastructure.” This begins with a key measure for the decarbonisation of port operations: the electrification of the quays.
The first phase has already been completed, with the construction of a large electrical substation and the installation of three mobile power sockets (rated at 7.5 megawatts, extendable to 11), along the first 900 metres of the Levante quay, intended for moored container ships. Work is now beginning on the electrification of a new section, which will bring the total number of power sockets available to large ships to five. The total investment amounts to over 100 million euros, including other infrastructure works such as a substation, an additional cold-ironing substation and various dredging operations. Almost 70 million comes from the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR), 5 from the Port Authority, and 6 from the terminal operator MCT. A further 30 million is available from the Port Authority’s budget, “but we are counting on a reallocation of PNRR funds”, notes Piacenza. As for the electrification of the Ro-Ro quays (those used for loading and unloading vehicles), the investment stands at 2.8 million. The redevelopment and upgrading of the berths and ramps are also necessary to improve vehicle handling. The tender is worth approximately 5 million.
Once the works are complete, with local emissions during berthing completely eliminated, the energy supply will amount to 160 megawatts – enough to meet the needs of a town with over 300,000 inhabitants. The port of Gioia Tauro will thus be able to meet both its own operational requirements and those of the terminal operator. Meanwhile, the terminal operator is drawing up a development plan which, in addition to the electrification of container-handling cranes and the upgrading of quay cranes, includes the automation of part of the yard management: a €60 million investment currently underway.
These are, more or less, all the necessary and essential steps required to bring the port into line with European standards, which consolidate its modernisation programme and strengthen its role: ‘Today, Gioia Tauro is among the most advanced ports in terms of energy innovation and sustainability,’ continues the chairman of the Port Authority. A green port in every sense of the word, capable of meeting the environmental challenges that the European Union sets for the logistics and transport sector.”
