A Comparison of deep sea container routes in the years 2011-2014

In this study, a comparison between deep sea shipping container services, supplied from the main Italian ports, in the years 2011 and 2014, is carried out. The comparison has shown that while the number of deep sea shipping departures, from Italian ports, has slightly increased between 2011 and 2014, the dimensions of the ships, which call at Italian ports, has increased strongly: this is in line with current trend in container ship gigantism. At present the most important Italian port system with regard to deep sea shipping direct routes is the Ligurian- Northern Tyrrhenian port system, while the least important is the Adriatic port system: actually Adriatic ports mainly offer short sea shipping services. On the other hand the development of European Adriatic-Baltic Corridor will bring, in the years to come , to a reduction of the current gap between deep sea shipping container services in Ligurian- Northern Tyrrhenian ports compared to that of the Adriatic ports.