Independent journal on economy and transport policy
19:46 GMT+1
PORTS
In the first quarter of this year, traffic in European Union ports fell by -3.2%
Only container traffic grew (+5.2%). Still doubts about the figures attributed to Italy
Lussemburgo
November 4, 2024
In the first quarter of this year, the ports of the European Union
handled 809.1 million tons of goods, with a
decrease of -3.2% over the same period of 2023. Eurostat has made
I note that in the first three months of 2024 it was the
containerized traffic alone, which amounted to 190.9 million
of tons (+5.2%). Rolling stock traffic, with 99.1 million
tons, recorded a decrease of -8.4%. Even more
accentuated the reduction in the volumes of dry bulk that were
equal to 167.7 million tonnes and a decrease were
liquid bulk cargo with 309.2 million tons (-2.7%). The
other goods, with 42.2 million tonnes, marked a
contraction of -1.6%.
Overall, in the first quarter of 2024, goods at the
landings in EU ports totalled 494.2 million
tonnes (-5.0%) and those on board 314.9 million tonnes
(-0,2%).
With regard to containerized traffic, among the main
container ports in the Union to show a decline was the only
Greek port of Piraeus with a traffic of 1.02 million TEUs
(-9,3%). Container volumes in other airports are increasing
containers starting from Rotterdam with 3.18 million TEUs (+1.1%)
followed by Antwerp-Bruges with 3.04 million TEUs (+6.5%), Hamburg
with 1.92 million TEUs (+2.5%), Valencia with 1.24 million TEUs
(+12.2%), Algeciras with 1.17 million TEUs (+4.8%), Bremerhaven with
1.12 million TEUs (+13.5%) and Gioia Tauro with 829 thousand TEUs (+3.8%).
Among the EU's leading maritime nations by volume of
Total traffic, the ranking of the first three months of 2024
sees the Netherlands in first place with 134.5 million tons of
goods passed through national seaports (-3.5%) followed by
Spain with 118.7 million tons (+1.2%), Italy with 104.2 million tons
million tonnes (-16.8%), Belgium with 70.3 million tonnes
tonnes (+0.4%), France with 67.7 million tonnes (+8.2%) and
Germany with 66.8 million tons (-1.0%).
At this point, we imagine, several Italian readers will have
jumped on the chair reading about the quarterly decline of -16.8%
allocated to national ports, this in the face of a reduction in
reported by various institutional sources
Italian such as that of about -5% that can be deduced from the publications
of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport. Ten years ago
some representatives of the Italian port system had
protested over the data on traffic handled by national airports
released by the statistical institute of the European Union, considering them
incorrect or at least not complete
(
of the 18th,
19
and 19
March 2014). Since then, time seems to have passed in vain, given that
Eurostat is not transposing the data in time or appropriately
statistics that the European Institute asks to receive within eight months
from the period covered by the statistical survey, data that,
with regard to Italy, Eurostat specifies that the
by the Italian Institute of Statistics Istat and integrated with
collected by the Ministry of Infrastructure and
Transport and port authorities. Data from
from Italy, which the European institute specifies to have included in the
its own database with the last update concluded on 20
September.
Yet in the data released by Eurostat something does not add up. Something
It doesn't add up, it seems to understand, not because the European Institute
did not receive the data in time or had figures
Wrong. Something does not add up, it seems, in the way Eurostat treats
data. For example: the total annual figure of goods handled
from the main ports of a nation presented by Eurostat not
corresponds to the annual figure if the latter is the sum of the
totals of the four quarterly periods of the year released by the
Eurostat itself.
Referring to the data released by Eurostat and referring to Italy,
examining the annual traffic data in the main ports
since 2005 which are disseminated by the European Institute,
calculated in millions of tons of goods handled, between 2005
and 2021 the annual figure proposed by Eurostat is higher than
the annual one calculated by adding the quarterly data released by the
same European institute. In the period 2005-2021, the annual average is
of 488.8 million tons handled by Italian ports
compared to an annual average of 478.0 million tonnes
calculated by adding the individual quarterly data. The average difference is
of 10.8 million tons per year.
By way of example, the annual figure for 2006 is 520.2
million tonnes, while the annual 2006 budget for 2006 was given by the
The sum of the four quarters is 506.0 million tonnes,
with a waste of 14.2 million tons. The annual figure
for 2020 is 469.6 million tonnes and the
of 2020 calculated by adding the four quarters is 459.8
million tonnes, with a difference of 9.8 million tonnes,
Tons. On the other hand, the annual figure for 2022 (478.0 million
tonnes) is lower than the annual figure for 2022
counted by adding the four quarters (499.2 million
tons), with a waste of 21.1 million tons.
Since the annual figures released by Eurostat coincide with
those released by Istat, there is the same gap between the data
published by the Italian Institute of Statistics and the annual
generated by the sum of the four quarters proposed by Eurostat for
except for 2022, the year for which Istat indicates a volume of
traffic of 509.4 million tonnes compared to 478.0 million tonnes
tonnes per year reported by Eurostat and the 499.2 million tonnes
tons per year, the result of the sum of the four quarters spread
by the European institute itself.
It could, of course, be Italy that does not provide the data in time
requested or to send them incomplete. And even at the national level the
scenario is not entirely clear. The annual data released
by Istat in recent years sometimes coincide with those released
by the Association of Italian Ports (Assoporti) and this
takes place in the period 2010-2015, while those presented by Assoporti
are lower than those of Istat in the period 2018-2022 and are
for the two-year period 2016-2017. These are scraps
ranging from 5 million to over 31 million tons per year.
The annual traffic data of Italian ports released by the
Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport coincide,
generally, with those published by Istat. It's not like that
but for the year 2022, for which Istat indicates a
of 509.4 million tons (like Eurostat), Assoporti proposes a
traffic of 490.1 million tons and MIT quantifies it in
478.0 million tonnes. The latter figure is presented
by the Ministry in the latest "National Account of
Infrastructure and Transport - Years 2022-2023" and the source is
attributed to Istat.
What is certain is that in the last ten years,
but also earlier, in Italy, the collection and dissemination of
Official statistical data on the activity of national ports
has not made progress, on the contrary - as noted by inforMARE
which collects statistical information on the sector on a daily basis
of transport from official sources around the world - not
the timeliness in the collection and
dissemination of statistical data on port activity
Italian.
Drawing conclusions, it could be useful, indeed a duty,
Renew the protest against the Institute of Statistics
European if the accusation against him is well-founded, and
above all press because any incorrect information
are corrected. However, it could also be useful, indeed it is
certainly, to put your own house in order and, above all,
disseminate official data on activity more promptly
of Italian ports that should be the basis of any
planning and politics are to be undertaken.
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