No longer an alternative, but a winning ticket: southern/central Europeans bet on the Ports of Genoa and Savona-Vado
16 October 2025 – During the seventh edition of the Genoa Shipping Week, the President of the Western Ligurian Sea Port Authority, Matteo Paroli, welcomed a delegation of Swiss and German operators at the Port of Genoa - part of a full broad programme of scheduled face-to-face meetings - aimed at strengthening relations with two markets strategic to the Ligurian Port Authority’s activities.
In his welcome speech, the President recalled that close relations between the Ports of Genoa with central Europe, specifically with Switzerland and Germany, are ongoing and that cooperation is already strong and effective, yet designed to move rapidly forwards, towards a more structured approach. “We propose to boost trade relations further,” declared Matteo Paroli. “We are confident that volumes will grow in line with the consolidation of our package of services tailored to the specific requirements of the Swiss and German marketplace, offering an efficient and sustainable alternative to the congested Northern Range ports.” President Paroli also highlighted that Genoa already offers fast regular rail freight services to Switzerland and Southern Germany, providing a direct connection between the Ligurian ports and the major manufacturing and consumer areas in Europe, noting in addition the importance of boosting the role of the port as a truly intermodal hub.
President Paroli outlined a set of facts and figures: the Ports of Genoa rank as Italy’s leading port in terms of total cargo throughput (64 million tons), as one of the top Mediterranean container gateways for final destination (2.8 million TEUs) and as a major cruise destination (over 2.5 million passenger per year). The strong performance of the Ports of Genoa and Savona-Vado has been bolstered by the 3.5 billion euro infrastructure investment programme underway. The strategic pillars of the overall plan include improved accessibility by sea with the construction of the new open-sea breakwater, Italy’s largest planned maritime infrastructure project, upgraded accessibility by road and by rail towards Europe, technological innovation and digitisation of port operations, sustainability and clean energy transition. “I believe that in this era of global geopolitical uncertainties, it has become increasingly important to build together a more balanced, integrated and resilient European logistics network, one that also looks southward, towards our ports and the Mediterranean,” affirmed the Port Authority President.
The large gathering of participants included Swiss and German supply chain operators and the leading players of Genoa and Savona-Vado’s port cluster, with the discussion focusing on intermodal rail services between the Italian ports and central-Europe, including the dedicated Southern Express to Basle and the new Stuttgart Express service. The invitees underlined that the Ports of Genoa is no longer considered just an alternative to the Northern Range ports, but today the Italian facilities are used by shippers to capitalise upon the competitive edge of Genoa and Savona-Vado in terms of operational efficiency, transit times and environmental sustainability. Cooperation and strategic partnerships between the public authorities, port terminal and logistic operators and shipping lines is vital to the provision of a resilient and sustainable supply chain, consolidating the role of the southern corridor to serve international maritime trade to/from central Europe.
