Record container traffic for the ports of Genoa and Savona
In 2025 the 3 million containers handled will be approached for the first time. President Paroli: 'Unprecedented result: a turning point'
The Western Ligurian Sea port system, whose Authority groups the ports of Genoa and Savona-Vado Ligure, reached a historic result in 2025, touching, for the first time, the threshold of 3 million teu (unit of measurement equal to a 20-foot container) handled. The overall volumes, announced by the Port System Authority, stand at 2.99 million, with a growth of 6.3% compared to 2024: an absolute record, matured, moreover, in an international context still characterised by geopolitical uncertainty, reorganisation of global logistics chains and tensions on the main maritime routes.
In terms of tonnes, however, a total of 62.92 tonnes of goods were handled, with a slight contraction compared to 2024 (-0.8%). A figure that, according to the Adsp, "reflects differentiated dynamics among the various traffic sectors, in an operating context still conditioned by exogenous factors of a geopolitical and economic nature".
As far as containers are concerned, the increase in traffic was sustained primarily by gateway (i.e. final destination) traffic, which is more correlated to real economic trends, which recorded 1.91 million full TEUs in imports and exports, up 4.8% year-on-year.
Transhipment traffic on the rise
Beside the traffic gateway, that one of transhipment (transhipment of the container from a great ship to a smaller one) has furnished a meaningful contribution to the total result, attesting itself to beyond 547 thousand teu, with a growth of the 31.5%. The expansion of transhipment activities, notes the Adsp, is attributable, to a large extent, to the increase in the handling of empty containers, a consequence of the strategies adopted by the main carriers for the reorganisation of services and the management of container cycles, in response to trade tensions and changes in sea routes.
In detail, Savona-Vado closed 2025 with about 590,000 teu, an increase of 58.4% compared to 2024, with a largely prevalent transhipment component. The port of Genoa, instead, has enlivened altogether 2,4 million teu, recording a light decrease (-1,6%), mainly ascribable, underlines the Adsp, to the reduction of the volumes in transhipment, against a substantial hold of the gateway traffic.
