The four ports managed by Ports of Genoa posted a new all-time high in TEUs in 2025, getting very close to three million. Despite this growth, rail freight took a significant hit, mainly due to temporary capacity restrictions caused by infrastructure works.
The port authority oversees the ports of Genoa, Prà, Savona, and Vado Ligure, which in total handled 2,999,486 TEUs in 2025. This is 6.3% higher than in 2024 and a new record. Much of the growth was driven by the ports of Savona and Vado Ligure, with a combined of about 590,000 TEUs, an outstanding +58.4% compared to 2024. The main player remains, by far, the port of Genoa, with roughly 2,4 million TEUs, 1.6% less than the previous year.
Rail freight struggles
This growth in total TEUs did not translate into higher rail freight volumes for Ports of Genoa. The number of trains dropped by 14.2% to 7,935, while TEUs fell by 11.6% to 322,451. The modal share of rail freight was 13,2%, which is “two percentage points lower compared to 2024”, the port authority said. Some good news came from non-containerised goods, which grew by 17% in 2025, especially thanks to the new services launched from Savona.
Waiting for the Terzo Valico
One project that is expected to boost rail freight is the Terzo Valico. This new infrastructure will create a link between Genoa, its ports and Tortona through a tunnel system which will also include the longest rail tunnel in Italy. After numerous delays, the opening should happen in the next couple of years. This will finally provide one of Italy’s most important ports with a modern rail connection to the Rhine-Alpine TEN-T Corridor, Europe’s most important logistics axis.
