Italian logistics are growing

Rome - The data on freight transportation for the first half of 2015 confirm the positive results recorded in the second half of 2014: all the sectors both in terms of traffic and revenue are growing but only aerial cargo and containers have exceeded pre-crisis volumes.

That is what one can read in the “Conjunctural Note on the First Semester of 2015,” prepared by the Confetra Study Centre (Confetra is the Italian General Confederation for Transportation and Logistics) through interviews with a panel of companies that are the most representative in various sectors. The note explains, “Except for transhipment and the maritime traffic in solid bulk (which was particularly negative because of the crisis in Taranto), all sectors are growing both in terms of traffic and revenue, even if the progress of the various modes of transport over the course of the decade shows that we are still far from pre-crisis volume levels. Only aerial cargo, which had the best performance in terms of weight (+5.1%), in terms of number of shipments (+2.5%) and in revenue (+3.4%), and destination container traffic (+8.8%), with an increase in the number of shipments (+2.1%) and revenue (+3%), have now reached and exceeded 2007 values.”

In particular, a closer analysis of the data confirms what had already emerged from the previous revelations: “intercontinental demand is driving not only exports, but also imports; national road traffic is picking up again (+4.0%) as is rail traffic (+2.6%), while continental road shipments and transport are growing only moderately (1.3% and 1.7%, respectively). The results for traffic through the Alpine tunnels, with only a few points increase, confirms that the European economies’ troubles continue.” A reading of the data shows that, “despite a slowdown in the rate of growth of emerging countries and the United States, the latter countries will still have to drive the recovery, which is struggling in Europe. On the other hand,” the note reports, “the improvement in the indices of confidence for companies (only 2% are still pessimistic) and families are driving the recovery of internal demand and domestic traffic, also confirmed by the excellent result for RORO in Palermo (+10.9%). The brilliant performance of the courier market has continued, with 8.5% growth in quantity and 7.5% in revenue.”

According to the Confetra study: “It is worth noting that there is a substantial equilibrium between the increase in traffic and the increase in revenue that seems, finally, to be ending the period in which margins dangerously eroded for all the companies in the sector. The changed financial scenario has been confirmed by the reduction both in [average] days outstanding (81 days versus 86 in the previous report), and in insolvencies in relation to revenue (1% versus 2.1%), not to speak of the reduction in distressed bank loans in the sector reported by the Bank of Italy, after an uninterrupted series of increases that has lasted 10 semesters.”