Port of the month: Porto di Genova – multi-service port on the Italian Riviera

This port city in the Italian region of Liguria is surrounded by breathtaking scenery and borders the Ligurian Sea as well as the country’s two main mountain ranges: the Apennines and the Alps. With its approximately 590,000 residents, the metropolitan city is Italy’s sixth largest in terms of population. In 2006, “Le Strade Nuove" and the system of the "Palazzi dei Rolli,” a number of streets and 42 palaces in the center of Genoa, were jointly declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The defining landmark of the city on the Italian Riviera is the 76-meter-high harbor lighthouse called the “Torre della Laterna di Genova.”

In addition to annually producing 1,674 metric tons of focaccia, an Italian flatbread made from yeast dough, Genoa also handles 69 million metric tons of cargo and more than 2.6 million TEU container throughput each year in its ports (the “Ports of Genoa”). The port of Genoa, in addition to those of the city of Savona, the city of Pra’ and the municipality of Vado Ligure, are administered by the Western Ligurian Sea Port Authority. Together, they constitute Italy’s leading port group, offering access to southern Europe via the Mediterranean and specializing in the loading and unloading of oversized cargo. In particular yachts are shipped to Miami, Dubai or Hong Kong.

For Hapag-Lloyd AG, the Ports of Genoa are for example part of the following services: the Europe Australia Express (EAX), the Levante Express (LEX), the Mediterranean Canada Service (MCA), the Mediterranean Gulf Express (MGX), the Mediterranean Pacific Service (MPS), and the Mediterranean to South America Eastcoast (MSE).

Genoa, the birthplace of the explorer and seafarer Christopher Columbus, is therefore still today a significant port city and an important hub in southern Europe.