In 2024, the impact of transport costs on Italy's international trade in goods increased compared to the previous year, particularly as a consequence of disruptions to container maritime transport caused by the Red Sea crisis. This is highlighted in the Bank of Italy's annual report, published on 6 June 2025. The cost increase was more significant for imports, where transport costs accounted for 4.2 per cent, than for exports, where the figure stood at 2.5 per cent.
One of Italy’s specific challenges lies in the limited share of goods transported by national carriers, which results in a high deficit in the merchant transport sector—namely, the transport-related component of the country's balance of payments. This figure reflects the difference between the transport services provided by Italian carriers to foreign clients and the services purchased abroad for the transport of Italian goods. This imbalance is not only substantial but has worsened over time. Between 2002 and 2019, the deficit ranged from three to six billion euros. In 2023, it jumped to 9.5 billion euros and rose further in 2024 to 11.8 billion euros. According to the Bank of Italy, this increase is mainly concentrated in maritime transport and is driven by rising container freight rates.
In container maritime shipping, import freight rates rose by 52 per cent, while export rates remained largely stable. The upward trend in imports was already evident by the end of 2023 and intensified in the first quarter of the following year, coinciding with the diversion of container ships from the Red Sea route to the Cape of Good Hope.
In road transport, average costs remained broadly unchanged for both imports and exports, helped in part by minor fluctuations in fuel prices. In real terms, average road transport costs increased by between one and two per cent. When considering only full truckloads, there was a three per cent decrease, although this was offset by a decline in average loads and a rise in ancillary costs such as brokerage and handling.
Average rail transport costs per tonne increased, with a sharper rise for bulk cargo compared to containers. Overall, export costs went up by 6.1 per cent and import costs by 3 per cent. For containers, export costs rose by 2.2 per cent, while import costs fell by 3.1 per cent. In trade with China, costs increased by 6.1 per cent for imports and dropped by 40.2 per cent for exports. Costs increased across almost all geographic areas, with a greater impact on more distant regions such as the Baltic countries, the United Kingdom and Scandinavia.
As for air transport, trends diverged between imports and exports. Import costs rose by 11.2 per cent, driven by a sharp increase in volumes, particularly from China, again due to the Red Sea crisis, which shifted traffic from sea to air. The largest increases were recorded for India, up by 67.4 per cent, and for Indonesia and Singapore, both up by 67.1 per cent, while the increase from China was 9.9 per cent. On the export side, air transport costs fell by 8.8 per cent.
