Setramar: 20 million in investment earmarked for AI and intermodal transport

Setramar, Italia’s second-largest operator (after FHP) in the bulk cargo handling sector, will invest 20 million euros over the next two years to develop and consolidate its position in the port of Ravenna, where it operates four multipurpose terminals (Lloyd, Soco, Eurodocks and the Setramar terminal of the same name). The funds in question will be focused on boosting intermodal transport and artificial intelligence (AI). But that is not all. In addition to this investment plan, the company aims to make acquisitions in other ports, starting with the northern Adriatic. This is explained by the CEO, Carlo Merli, who outlines the group’s strategy.

“Setramar’s majority shareholder,” the manager points out, “is the Anglo-American fund Davidson Kempner, which has controlled the company for well over two years now, that is, since June 2024. During this period, the company has not only consolidated its commercial position but has also worked in depth on the organisation of human resources, the optimisation of the technologies used, and aspects that can help strengthen our position: intermodality is one of these. The decision to proceed with a 20 million investment, which we will roll out over the next two years, is therefore an integral part of a multi-year business plan which, to support volume growth, the development and expansion of our intermodal capacity to and from the port of Ravenna, as well as the expansion of our IT capabilities’.

Between January and July 2026, Merli points out, ‘our cargo volume at the port of Ravenna grew by 14 per cent compared with the same period in 2025. This growth over seven months outperformed the port’s overall performance, which, according to official statistics from the Port Authority, stood at +5.5 per cent for all commodities combined. We are therefore now aiming to consolidate our operational capacity’.

The 20 million investment over 24 months, which will be completed in the first half of 2028, the CEO continues, ‘are linked both to the construction of a new rail link for the Lloyd terminal and to the modernisation of the lifting equipment at that terminal and the other three, to make loading and unloading operations more efficient, both on the quayside and on the trains. Moreover, we are already the main generator of rail traffic at the Port of Ravenna: on average, we handle between 25 and 30 trains a week, 52 weeks a year; and we are investing to ensure this figure increases, enabling us to attract traffic for the various commodities we handle.’ That is, steel products, cereals and flour, fertilisers and minerals (these are Setramar’s four main business lines, to which are added, to a lesser extent, general cargo and project cargo).

Part of the investment, however, will be channelled – as mentioned – into digitalisation, which, according to Merli, ‘is the other frontier in which all operators in our sector are investing. We are no exception: we have a major development programme, which also includes the use – currently on a trial basis, but to be rolled out fully – of AI tools, particularly with regard to the planning, optimisation and utilisation of storage space: key factors for the efficiency and profitability of the terminals’.