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.
