(Finance) – Global seaborne trade increased by 2.2% in 2023, reaching 12.3 billion tons, and will grow by 2.4% in 2024 and 2.6% in 2025. The situation in the Red Sea does not interrupt the flow of maritime transport. The Mediterranean is still the protagonist: the consensus on estimates predicts, despite the conflicts, an average annual growth in Mediterranean container traffic of just over 3% in 2028, against the 2.5% world average. This is what emerges from theeleventh Annual Report “Italian Maritime Economy”, titled this year “The new challenges of the ports of the Euro-Mediterranean area. The crisis in the Red Sea and the transformations imposed by green models”, presented this morning by SRM – Research Center connected to the Intesa Sanpaolo Group – at the Gallerie d’Italia in Naples.
The Report – also produced thanks to the contribution of the MOST, National Center for Sustainable Mobility – analyses in the first part the economic dynamics affecting the sector and focuses on the impacts generated by the tensions in the Red Sea on routes, freight rates, costs
of raw materials and, more generally, on the fluidity of global logistics chains with particular reference to Mediterranean-Far East traffic and vice versa. The volume also contains insights and case studies carried out by national and international partners of the‘Observatory on the Economics of Maritime Transport and of SRM Logistics on the themes of innovation, sustainability, and new port models, with focus on intermodal transport, the ETS-Emission Trading System and the diffusion of hydrogen in ports. A specific essay, dedicated to Special Economic Zones, It was curated by one of the young people from the SRM #Meets4Future community to also highlight analyses and elaborations carried out by novice researchers.
“The SRM studies – he stated Gian Maria Gros-Pietro, President of Intesa Sanpaolo – are now a point of reference for operators, also because the maritime economy is an excellent observation point for analyzing and understanding global dynamics. Intesa Sanpaolo is the only Italian bank to have a research center specialized in these issues that are of great importance for the future of our country and Europe. We are proud of it: it allows us to support operators in the sector, but also to act with foresight in our operational choices. Just as we are proud of the decision to support the Single ZES for the South and the Simplified Logistics Zones for the Center-North. For all these Zones, our Group has allocated a ceiling of 10 billion, dedicated to financing investments for the development of the ‘industry – ports – logistics’ system” https://www.Finance.it/DettaglioNews/355_2024-07-19_TLB/. “The maritime economy – said Gros-Peter via video link, to the presentation in Naples by Srm of the new 2024 Report – is a strategic pillar for the entire Italian economy. Together with logistics, it is worth almost 10% of the national GDP and 12% of the European GDP. In terms of international trade, maritime transport moves between 85 and 90% of the world’s trade volumes. Italian ports alone handle about half a billion tons of goods per year, over 70 million passengers and 338 billion in imports and exports”.
“With this SRM report – he said Massimo Deandreis, General Manager SRM – confirms its leading role in the analysis of the maritime economy, one of the pillars on which the entire national and European production system is based, since it is above all through shipping, ports and logistics that national and European import-export moves. Furthermore, this sector leads the energy transition process. Ports, in fact, are increasingly becoming energy hubs, while shipping with the challenge of alternative fuels and logistics through intermodality are stimulating ‘green’ investments in our country. All this also has a growing geopolitical dimension: energy, ports, logistics, import-export, Suez, growth of China and Asia in the Mediterranean. All aspects that touch on significant strategic interests and constitute the opportunity to affirm the role of Italy and the South at the center of the Mediterranean”.
Mare Nostrum – the report states – is a protagonist in the Short SeaShort-range maritime traffic recorded the figure
the most intense ever at European level in the Mediterranean with almost 600 million tonnes moved.
However, tensions still remain. Between January and June 2024 the Suez average daily transits were reduced to 37 passages from 71 in the previous year. The most affected were Container ships (-69% of passages), Car Carriers (-84%) and LNG (-93%).
Uphill fares: According to the Drewry World Container Index (DWCI), container freight rates surpassed $5,100 on June 20, 2024; up more than 233% in a year.
The horizontal and vertical integration of logistics continues. The world’s top 20 container shipping carriers have nearly doubled their market share, from 48% in 2012 to 91% in 2024. Vertical integration processes (M&A within the supply chain) have seen the realization of 5 billion in investments in 2023.
The challenge of alternative fuels for shipping. The use of alternative fuels has continued to progress, with 6.5% of the fleet in navigation capable of using new, less polluting propellants. A percentage that will reach 25% by 2030. 50.3% of all orders in July 2024 are for ships that use alternative fuels (in 2017 this share was only 10.7%). Italian ports and shipping are always protagonists: 28% of import/export in value and 50% in quantity uses the ship; Ro-Ro Italian excellence with a growth of 56% in the decade.
The South confirms itself as a strategic area for Italy. 47% of the country’s maritime traffic passes through ports
of the southern regions.
Investments in intermodality and green models for growth: €80 billion in investments are needed to make Europe a more efficient and greener port model.