ROME – Geopolitical tensions are reshaping maritime trade routes and global logistics, imposing new challenges on the entire supply chain. From the crises affecting the two choke points, Suez and Hormuz, to the race towards the automation of port terminals. The maritime transport sector today faces a structural transformation involving traffic, energy, technology and operational efficiency.
This is the context for the analysis entitled: “The geopolitical framework and impacts on ports, terminals and shipping routes”, by SRM, a study center linked to the Intesa Sanpaolo Group, and presented by Alessandro Panaro, Head Maritime & Energy of SRM, on May 12 in Rome from the stage of the Assiterminal Public Assembly.
Some moments from the Assiterminal Public Assembly
The speech developed along three main lines: The difference and impact of the Suez and Hormuz crises on maritime transport, the solidity of Italian ports in the new geopolitical scenario, and the growing process of digitalization and automation of port terminals.
Two different crises, Suez and Hormuz:
Panaro highlighted how the crises in Suez and the Strait of Hormuz have generated profoundly different effects on global logistics, noting that “we often tend to trivialize, but these are two different types of crises and effects.”
The Red Sea and Suez crisis primarily represented a crisis of maritime route deviation. What was mainly affected was containerized traffic and, consequently, the international manufacturing system. Shipping companies reacted by lengthening routes and circumnavigating Africa via the Cape of Good Hope.
Different, however, is the type of crisis linked to Hormuz, defined by Panaro as a veritable “blockade crisis.” In this case, ships do not have the possibility of choosing alternative routes and energy traffic is directly exposed to the geopolitical tensions of the area.
To address this situation, international logistics has sought alternative solutions through overland pipelines, road connections, and ports capable of handling transhipment services and traffic located outside the Strait of Hormuz. These very ports have recorded particularly significant traffic increases.
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According to Panaro, the impact of the Hormuz crisis cannot be assessed solely on the basis of direct European imports of oil and gas from the area. Although Europe depends for 10%, therefore to a limited extent, on that geographical quadrant, the problem indirectly concerns the Far East, particularly China, India and South Korea, areas from which Europe imports most of its raw materials and manufactured products and on which the Hormuz crisis has had a significant impact.
An energy and logistics crisis in those economies, Panaro explained, inevitably produces repercussions also on the European industrial system, through slowdowns in supply chains, difficulties in transport and a sharp increase in costs.
Solidity of Italian ports:
The second part of the study concerned the performance of national ports in the current international context.
The data presented by SRM show how the Italian port system has maintained substantial solidity despite geopolitical criticalities and longer navigation times.
Panaro emphasized that Italian ports are not losing traffic, but on the contrary have recorded growth, exceeding the threshold of 500 million tons handled.
The result, according to SRM’s analysis, demonstrates the ability of the national production system to adapt quickly to new global market conditions, reorganizing warehouses, supplies and logistics processes to compensate for delays accumulated along maritime routes.
The global race towards terminal digitalization
The third analysis presented during the Assembly concerned the topic of port terminal digitalization and, in particular, process automation.
Panaro focused attention on the need to overcome a generic approach to the concept of digitalization, highlighting how investments are often discussed without going into the merits of the actual technological processes implemented in terminals.
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During the presentation, it was shown how, globally, the main port operators are investing massively in automation. Of approximately 850 terminals worldwide, the 77 most important ones — connected to ports with the highest traffic volumes — are strongly accelerating their digitalization programs.
The analysis highlights significant growth in automated or semi-automated terminals, favored both by the reduction in technology costs and by the growing need to increase operational efficiency.
Panaro explained that different levels of automation exist: from “basic” automation, linked to machinery and operational equipment, up to the most advanced systems involving cybersecurity, control software and integrated management of logistics flows.
In the terminal sector, the main objective of automation is the reduction of waiting times. Since maritime routes do not allow for further significant margins of time recovery, efficiency must be achieved in ports, speeding up handling operations and reducing waiting times.
Dwell time as a new strategic indicator
Particular attention was dedicated to the concept of “dwell time”, today considered one of the main indicators of logistics efficiency.
Dwell time measures the container’s stay time inside the port terminal, from the moment of unloading until collection by road transport, or vice versa in export operations.
According to Panaro, this parameter has become central in the new international metrics for evaluating logistics performance, to the point of influencing the evolution of the Logistic Performance Index in its updated “2.0” version.
Reducing dwell time means increasing the fluidity of the entire supply chain: the container must be transferred quickly from the terminal to the final destination, avoiding congestion and slowdowns.
“The speed of the terminal and especially of waiting times” today represents, Panaro concluded, one of the decisive elements for determining a country’s logistics competitiveness and its ability to respond to new global challenges”.
