On January 4, 2023, l’Autorità di Sistema Portuale dei Mari Tirreno Meridionale e Ionio announced that in 2023, the MedCenter Container Terminal at the port of Gioia Tauro processed 3,548,827 TEUs, thus exceeding any previous result. The closest figure to this was achieved in 2008 with 3.47 million TEUs. The president of the Port Authority, Andrea Agostinelli, stated, “I want to congratulate the shipping company MSC and the company MCT, which manages the container terminal, for the excellent work done in maintaining high performances of our port. I also express my sincere appreciation to the port workers, who are our pride, and to whom the credit goes for working with commitment and dedication, ensuring the port achieved this coveted milestone”.
But 2024 presents significant challenges for the Calabrian port, which is Italy's main hub for transhipment. The first challenge concerns the introduction of the ETS system, effective from January 1 for ships with a gross tonnage of 5,000 tons or more, which analysts say could disadvantage European ports in the Mediterranean in favor of those on the African coast. In these latter ports, shipowners pay less for CO2 emissions and therefore might prefer them on ocean routes over Mediterranean ones.
The second challenge is the Red Sea crisis, which is increasingly diverting container ships from the Suez Canal to circumnavigate Africa. The most recent survey conducted using the AIS tracking system shows that 378 container ships – equivalent to a total hold of 5.295 million TEUs – are following or will follow the Cape of Good Hope route. If the crisis is not resolved, or worse tends to escalate, this number could soon grow. The circumnavigation of Africa penalizes ports in the central and eastern Mediterranean, as ships that previously passed through Suez can now choose to call at ports closer to the Strait of Gibraltar, leaving feeder ships to deliver containers to other Mediterranean ports.
