EGT: Italian Transportation

Italy Transportation

1.   Although Italy is not bordered by ocean and has no major ocean ports, Italy is bordered by the Adriatic Sea to the East, the Ionian Sea to the Southeast, the Tyrrhenian Sea to the West, and the Mediterranean Sea to the South and Italy has major ports to all these bodies of water.

Italy has many major ports, most of which are in the Mediterranean Sea, while two others are in the Tyrrhenian Sea. The Port of Livorno is a major Italian seaport on the Tyrrhenian Sea and has an annual traffic capacity of 30 million tons (cargo). This port has more than 15,000 employees who provide services to more than 7,000 ships annually. The Port of Cagliari is in the Mediterranean Sea basin, and has an annual traffic capacity of around 50 million tons (of cargo). This port employs nearly 3,000 people who provide services to more than 5,500 ships every year. The Port of Naples is one of the largest seaports in the Mediterranean Sea basin, and while it only has an annual traffic capacity of 25 million tons, the 4,800 employees here provide services to more than 64,000 ships a year. The largest port in Italy is the Port of Genoa in the Mediterranean Sea. This port has a trade volume of more than 52 million tons of cargo, and this port is busiest in terms of cargo, and the second busiest in terms of twenty-foot equivalent units after the Port of Gioia Tauro. The Port of Gioia Tauro is another one of the biggest ports in Italy. It is located on the Tyrrhenian coast and is one of the busiest maritime corridors in the world. In fact, in the early 2000’s more than one-third of Italian national traffic went through this seaport.

2.  Land transportation is very important in Italy, and the railway system plays an important role for both freight and passenger trains. Trenitalia is the primary train operator in Italy. The Trenitalia cargo division transports about 28 billion tons, and it comprises of more than 30,000 freight cars. International traffic accounts for about half of this, and the cargo division operates in collaboration with other European train operators, or with the subsidiary TX Logistik AG, which operates in Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Austria, Switzerland, Netherlands and Hungary.  Trenitilia operates regional trains, long-distance trains, as well as international transport to Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Hungary, Slovenia, Spain, and Switzerland. There are two types of long-distance trains: the Frecce trains, and the Intercity trains. The Frecce trains are very high-speed trains, with special rails and connect major cities. These trains are currently replacing the older high-speed ES Eurostar trains. The Intercity trains are slower and cheaper, while serving more medium sized cities. Night trains (or sleeper trains) run mainly North and South through Italy and its neighboring countries. These are similar to Intercity level trains. Road transportation is very big in Italy, and it has one most vehicles per capita in the world (690 vehicles for 1000 people). Italy has a total of 487,700 km of roads, of which 6,700km are motorways. The speed limits also vary depending on the road, on the motorway it is 130km/h, in towns and cities it is 50km/h, and rarely the limit will drop to 30km/h in rural areas.

3.  In Europe, Italy has the fifth most number of passengers by air transport with about 148 million. The majority of these passengers are on international flights, while the majority of domestic flights are to major islands. There are a total of 130 airports in Italy. Major international airports in Italy include Fiumicino Airport in Rome (the largest airport in Italy), the City of Milan Airport in Milan (the 21^st largest airport in Europe), Venice Marco Polo Airport in Venice, and Naples International Airport).  Other regional airports include Caselle Airport (Turin) in the region Piedmont, Cristoforo Colombo Airport (Genoa) in the region Liguria, Orio al Serio Airport (Bergamo) in Lombardy, Valeria Catullo Airport (Veneto) in the region Veneto, and Gorizia Del Legionari Airport (Trieste) in the region Friuli-Venezia Giulia. There are also many other regional airports in Italy.