By Thanos Pallis
Which are the top-10 cruise ports in the Meditteranean and its adjoining seas? PortEconomics co-director Thanos Palllis compiled the list of the 10 largest cruise ports in terms of passenger movements in 2014, and compared these figures to the years 2013 and 2010, in a single picture, with PortEconomics provides this information to its readers.
The data were collected in the context of a statistical report prepared for MedCruise (the association of ports in the Med and its adjoining seas), with Thanos Pallis, along with fellow researchers Kleopatra Arapi and Aimilia Papachristou commenting on the trends:
Top-10 cruise ports in the Med
The ten major ports hosted 14.059.114 annual cruise passenger movements in 2014. This is 9% more when comparing to the passengers that they had hosted five years before, but a 6,5% decline when comparing to the record year 2013. The picture for the individual ports that are included in the specific major-10 list is mixed, as four of these ports recorded a growth of cruise passengers in 2014.
The major four ports in terms of passenger movements retained their ranking for another year. Barcelona remains the top port in the Mediterranean Sea. Hosting 2,36 million passenger movements in 2014 Barcelona’s traffic remains returned 0,6% higher than the levels of 2010. Civitavecchia is the other cruise port in the Med that hosted more than two million cruise passenger movements in 2014, with the 2010-2014 variation registering a sizeable growth of 10% (from 1,94 millions to 2,35 millions).
Venice stands as the third major cruise port in terms of total passenger movements. Comparing to the respective number of movements in 2010, Venice recorded a growth of 7,2% within this five years period. As the city experienced a heated discussion on restrictions on the sailing of big in size cruise vessels down the Giudecca canal, it is worth monitoring the long-term effect that related decisions might have on the specific port and not least on the broader region of the Adriatic and the Ionian Sea. The fourth biggest port in the Med is Balearic Islands, which the last two years has seen the annual cruise passenger movements standing at over 1,5 million per annum. The 3% annual growth of 2014 has brought these movements to a level that is 2,6% higher than in 2010.
Marseille continues to register the most dynamic growth of all MedCruise ports for a second successive year. As a result, it endures rising the rankings of major ports. At the end of 2014, following a 10,4% annual growth, it stands at the 5th position of this ranking. The growth of 2014 followed a remarkable 33% rise of passenger movements within 2013. The port remains the most dynamic of all even when one compares the medium-term trends. The period 2010-2014 cruise passenger traffic growth in Marseille equals to an 88%.
Savona, which in 2013 was the new entry in the major-10 ports list, continued to grow and consequently rise in the rankings in 2014. Following an 8,5% annual rise of the number of passengers hosted, this port surpassed the one million passenger movements per year milestone. Within a five years period (2010-2014) passenger movements at the port increased by 30,5% and Savona stands now as the 8th biggest port in the Med and its adjoining seas.
The fourth port member that saw the numbers of cruise passenger movements rising in 2014 is Tenerife. Hosting 840.268 passenger movements, a rise of 5,8% comparing to the previous year and 13,5% comparing to 2010, Tenerife now concludes the list of the top-10 ports in the Med at the expense of Genoa, with the latter losing ground to the neighbouring port of Savona. Naples, Piraeus and Dubrovnik are the other ports in the list.
