Traffic in the ports of Sardinia realigns with the pre-pandemic numbers: passengers are growing and the volume of goods "holds" , even if the latter area is still lagging behind due to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine .
The Sardinian Sea Port System Authority draws up the balance.
PASSENGERS - As regards the eight commercial ports (Cagliari, Olbia, Porto Torres, Golfo Aranci and Arbatax) in 2022 the Sardinian ports of call recorded a +22% compared to 2021, with numbers close to 5 million units .
Traffic on routes of less than 20 miles (Santa Teresa and Portovesme) is also on the rise, reaching just under 826,000 passengers, up 21% on the previous year (the data is affected by the closing of the Santa Teresa for restoration work on the docks).
"A trend - underlines the Authority - which, overall, exceeds the performances of 2019. Compared to the pre-Covid period, in fact, 2022 marks a +0.02 percent on scheduled passenger traffic, while it remains still negative - less 27 percent - on those for the islands of Carloforte and Corsica (in 2021 it was equal to - 40%). Result, in particular, driven by the record of the airports of Olbia - Isola Bianca (just over 3 million and 62 thousand passengers in the year just ended) and Porto Torres (about 1 million and 135 thousand), which grow respectively by 3 and 10 per cent compared to the last positive data of three years ago».
CRUISES – Three-digit growth for the cruise market, which closed 2022 with a 284.5 percent increase compared to 2021, reaching 220,595 passengers, 152,000 of whom in the port of Cagliari. Encouraging data, but still below the results of 2019 (-50%).
Despite the difference in the number of calls being almost reduced (184 calls in 2022 compared to 212 in 2019), the ship load factor remains incisive which, throughout the first half of 2022, was reduced by the restrictive health measures to contain the contagion.
CARGO – Substantial stability also for the cargo sector which, globally, closed 2022 with 43,814,388 tonnes (about 31 million in the port of Cagliari) and a minimal decrease compared to the previous year (just under 100,000 tonnes difference ). In detail, liquid bulk (mainly oil and refined) closed with a plus 1.2 percent compared to 2021. A plus 26 percent, on the other hand, is the result of the growth of solid bulk (cereals, coal and minerals) . On the other hand, the 2022-2021 ratio for wheeled goods is decreasing, which stands at minus 11.4 percent (about one and a half million tons less). Given that it highlights a slowdown in supplies due to the current global crisis caused by the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.
CANAL PORT – Last but not least, the handling of containers in the Canal Port compendium which, after the revocation of the concession to the CICT, statistically returns a positive signal (about 55,000 TEUS), with a 68 percent increase compared to 2021 and a 54 ,6 on 2019.
DEIANA – «The numbers recorded in 2022 make official, at least in terms of passenger traffic, the overcoming of the 2019 record and the definitive exit from two years of unprecedented global health crisis», says Massimo Deiana, President of the AdSP of the Sardinian Sea.
«An encouraging balance - adds Deiana - the one just drawn up, the result of constant and synergistic work of the entire port cluster, which has seen all the ports of the System resist with determination the blows of the crisis and operate with profound dedication and professionalism, despite the restrictions dictated by the protocols for the containment of the contagion which, it should be remembered, also affected the first part of 2022. Let us therefore write a new page, maintaining, however, a certain prudence dictated, this time, by the new global crisis generated by the Russian-Ukrainian conflict and, consequently, by the increase in energy and transport costs which, in 2022, affected the movement of goods on wheels. Also in this case - concludes Deiana -, the ports of the system will operate in a regime of maximum efficiency, opening up to new market challenges and always keeping alive the attention on the container sector which, in the light of the small positive signs on the operations of the year that has just ended, needs that decisive leap on which we have been working tirelessly for years, always creating new conditions of commercial, financial and operational attractiveness: from the Zes, to the Customs Free Zone, up to the Transhipment Port Employment Agency».
(Unioneonline/lf)
