On 30 June 2026, the Autorità di Sistema portuale del Mare di Sicilia Orientale (Port System Authority of the Eastern Sicilian Sea) announced that it had fully implemented the procedural agreement to reorganise the operational areas of the port of Catania, signing four concessions that reshape the layout of spaces allocated to ro-ro and ro-pax traffic. The agreement, brought into force on the same day, is intended to strengthen the port’s role as eastern Sicily’s hub for the maritime transport of industrial vehicles, while generating private investment and new concession-fee revenue for the authority.
The largest area has been assigned to Grimaldi Marangolo Terminal Catania, which receives 103,029 square metres in the port’s New Commercial Basin, including about 93,000 square metres of open yard and a 10,000-square-metre section earmarked for a multi-storey car park. The 25-year concession covers ro-ro and ro-pax terminal operations. Est Europea Servizi Terminalistici has been assigned 34,933 square metres between berths 8 and 9 of Molo Crispi, also for ro-ro and ro-pax traffic, for a period of 10 years. Under the new Port Master Plan, a significant part of this area will later be converted to leisure boating functions once the necessary infrastructure works have been completed.
Marimport has been awarded a smaller area of 2,865 square metres, split between the new commercial basin and the Molo Crispi yard, for logistics support, storage and handling of vehicles being loaded and unloaded, as well as the management of a customs temporary-storage warehouse and container handling in ro-ro traffic. The concession runs for four years. The company already provides services supporting traffic generated by Grimaldi group vessels. The same duration applies to the concession awarded to F.lli Bordieri, which has secured 2,750 square metres in the new commercial basin for the storage of cars awaiting loading or unloading. The company is active in the storage and distribution of new and used vehicles across Italy.
The reorganisation of the areas is designed to strengthen the position of the port of Catania in the Mediterranean ro-ro and ro-pax market through a more rational use of available space. Alongside the Grimaldi group, which remains the concession holder with the largest surface area, the entry of different operators opens the port to a wider range of terminal companies. The measure also represents a first concrete step in implementing the new Port Master Plan: ferry vessels will no longer be moored along the central pier or the eastern breakwater, creating the conditions for a link between the port and the city that Catania residents have long requested. The four concessions will bring civil works, machinery, equipment and new staff worth more than €20m in total, in addition to commitments for further recruitment and operational programmes aimed at increasing port traffic. The concession fees from the four agreements will generate total annual revenue of €1.75m for the Autorità di Sistema portuale del Mare di Sicilia Orientale , to be allocated to maintenance and upgrades of the port’s public infrastructure.
Antonio Illariuzzi
