Port of Trieste | RailFreight.com

Italy and Hungary to implement customs corridor

Marco Raimondi — Mon, 30 Mar 2026 08:23:28 +0000

Italy and Hungary signed an agreement for a customs corridor for goods arriving at the port of Trieste. In concrete terms, customs procedures for cargo reaching Trieste will be carried out directly in Hungary, making the process more efficient and contributing to decongest the port.
The corridor “will enable the rapid and secure transfer of goods under customs supervision between temporary storage facilities located in Italy and Hungary, with customs procedures being completed on Hungarian territory”, the Italian Agency of Customs and Monopolies (ADM) said.

Adria Port to play key role

This project is part of the IMEC corridor, connecting India to Europe via the Middle East, the ADM said. A key role will also be played by Adria Port, the future rail terminal that the Hungarian government is building within the port of Trieste. The facility, which should be ready in 2028, will provide the landlocked country with an outlet on the sea.

The state-owned company owning the terminal already signed agreements with two operators for services: Gysev Cargo and Rail Cargo Hungaria. The latter is part of the Austria state-owned Rail Cargo Group, which already deploys a customs corridor between the port of Trieste and the Logistik Center Austria Süd in Villach/Fürnitz.

Gysev Cargo to operate future Trieste–Hungary service

Marco Raimondi — Tue, 03 Mar 2026 13:02:48 +0000

The link between Hungary and ‘its’ future terminal in the Italian port of Trieste will be operated by Gysev Cargo. The operator signed an agreement with Adria Port, the Hungarian state-owned company which will own the terminal in Italy.
The focus of the partnership between Adria Port and Gysev Cargo will be on a “stable rail connection between Trieste and Hungary, integration of infrastructures and intermodal capacities and long-term sustainable, transparent cooperation”. The future Hungarian terminal in Trieste, expected to be ready in 2028, will provide a somewhat direct outlet on the sea to the landlocked country.

Adria Port

Hungary picked Trieste over Koper to build a terminal in a port on the Adriatic. The facility will cover an area of 34 hectares, and rail freight will be at the heart of the project being the main transport mode for transport to and from the port. In total, around 200 million euros will be invested, with 45 million euros coming from the Trieste Port Authority and the rest from the Hungarian government.

Digital rendering of the future Adria Port terminal in Trieste. Image: © Adria Port

European Cargo Experience

Terminals, terminal equipment and synergies between modalities will be the main topics of the upcoming European Cargo Experience. Organised by RailFreight.com jointly with our sister publications World Cargo News and Project Cargo Journal, the event will bring together leaders from all the sectors of the logistics industry. Find out more about the event here and secure your Early Bird tickets here.

Medway expands into France and Austria

Dennis van der Laan — Mon, 22 Dec 2025 09:01:13 +0000

Medway, the rail branch of MSC subsidiary Medlog, is launching new services in France and Austria. The operator is primarily based in Spain and six other countries, but is now finding its way into new European markets.
Medway’s first-ever service in France ran between Caffiers and Dunkirk on 14 December, carrying out transport for a party in the steel industry. It will run 365 days per year, the company says, with each train carrying up to 3,600 tonnes of critical raw materials. That includes lime and limestone, which are brought to one of Europe’s largest steel production plants.

Austria to Trieste

On 17 December, Medway conducted its first operation in Austria, introducing a tri-weekly service that connects the cities of Linz of Wels to the Trieste port in Italy. This service “will be particularly beneficial to customers in the forestry, paper, pulp, automotive and retail sectors, which depend heavily on North-South cargo flows”, explains the rail operator. It is designed to integrate with Medlog’s existing intermodal network, which should help to ensure connectivity with other European hubs.

Medway was already active in Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Switzerland. It is the largest private operator on the Iberian peninsula, where it stands to take over part of the business of Renfe Mercancías through a joint venture.

Rail remains resilient amid volume drop at port of Trieste

Marco Raimondi — Thu, 08 May 2025 07:56:13 +0000

The Italian port of Trieste started 2025 with a slight decrease in volumes compared to the first quarter of 2024. On the other hand, container traffic recorded the best quarter ever for the port, while rail freight remained quite stable.
During the first three months of this year, 2,084 trains were handled within the Trieste port, 0.38% lower than the same period last year. The port authority called it “a significant result, achieved despite critical infrastructure issues along major Alpine passes”.

In general, the port handled around 13,6 million tonnes in Q1 2025, which is 4.25% less than Q1 2024. The main cause behind this drop is a 12.34% decrease in liquid bulks (8,6 million tonnes), due to scheduled maintenance at the TAL refineries. On the other hand, container traffic surged, with a +34.75% increase for a total of 237,534 TEUs handled.

The port of Monfalcone

Trieste’s little brother, the port of Monfalcone, recorded a significantly positive first quarter of the year. In total, almost 1,2 million tonnes were moved there, an increase of 54.88% on the same period in 2024. Rail freight traffic also rose by 15.24% to 537 trains. The main driver behind Monfalcone’s growth in the beginning of 2025 is mostly tied to bulk cargo which grew by 63.23% to 972,497 tonnes.

Hungary’s terminal in Trieste to be ready in 2028

Marco Raimondi — Mon, 24 Feb 2025 09:52:17 +0000

The terminal that the Hungarian government is planning to build at the Italian port of Trieste will be ready by 2028. Initially, estimations had the opening date in 2026, but bureaucratic quibbles are causing some delays.
Construction of the facility might start already this year, especially if today’s meeting at the Italian Ministry of Environment with all parties involved goes well. “We believe that shortly, basically, we will be able not only to start the work, but also then to complete it”, said the Italian deputy minister of transport Edoardo Rixi.

The delays are caused by the lack of authorisation for the area that will be turned into a multipurpose hub by Adria Port, the Hungarian state-owned company which will manage the same-name terminal. In the meantime, the portion of the terminal formerly used by the Aquila refinery is being reclaimed and quaying works are underway to increase capacity.

The Adria Port terminal

The idea for a terminal managed by landlocked Hungary in a European seaport came about a few years ago. Initially, the idea was to build it in Koper, Slovenia, but then the choice fell on Trieste. The facility will cover an area of 34 hectares, and rail freight will be at the heart of the project. In total, around 200 million euros will be invested, with 45 coming from the Trieste Port Authority.

Advantages for Silk Road traffic?

The future advantages of this terminal might not only be confined to Italy-Hungary traffic. Companies active in intermodal transport between Asia and Europe pointed out that such a terminal could be highly beneficial for Eurasian traffic. If ships arrive at the port of Trieste, forwarding the cargo via rail will be easier than, for example, doing it from Greek ports. Trains leaving Greece, in fact, need to cross non-EU countries, with all the additional administrative and operational burdens that come with it.

RailFreight Summit 2025

The port of Trieste will be speaking at the upcoming RailFreight Summit in Gdansk, Poland, on 8 and 9 April. During the event, the focus will be on the synergies between ports and railways in Europe, with an eye on technological developments and upcoming policies. You can check the programme here and register here.

Milan gets two new rail freight services

Marco Raimondi — Mon, 09 Dec 2024 09:17:28 +0000

Two new rail freight services were launched to intermodal hubs near Milan, in northern Italy. One connects the Maddaloni- Marcianise terminal, north of Naples, to Contship’s Rail Hub MIlano in Melzo, east of the city. The other one links the port of Trieste, in the Italian northeast, with the Malpensa Intermodale terminal near the homonym airport west of Milan.
The Marciansie-Melzo service is launched by Hannibal, the multimodal transport operator of Contship Italia Group, in cooperation with Oceanogate, the group’s rail freight operator. The first train departed seven days ago. “Departures from Melzo are scheduled on Tuesdays and Thursdays, while those from Marcianise will take place on Wednesdays and Fridays”, the Contship said.

The Trieste-Malpensa service was inaugurated on Thursday 5 December. There are currently four roundtrips every week, but there are already plans to increase the frequency in 2025. The service sees the involvement of the port of Trieste, logistics operator Alpe Adria, shipping giant DFDS, the Swiss Federal Railways and Malpensa Intermodale, which manages the terminal.

Port of Trieste records rail freight decrease

Marco Raimondi — Mon, 02 Dec 2024 08:40:02 +0000

The port of Trieste is the most active in Italy when it comes to rail freight. However, rail freight traffic at the port has been significantly decreasing this year. So far, freight trains handled in Trieste dropped by 13 per cent.
Moreover, there was a reduction in freight trains at the port of Monfalcone as well, a smaller port near Trieste. In the first 10 months of 2024, 6,070 trains passed through the port of Trieste and 1,550 in Monfalcone. The goal for the two ports was to reach 10,000 trains this year. However, with the latest developments, this goal seems unattainable.

The causes behind the drop

The trends identified in Trieste and Monfalcone reflect the current situation of the rail freight sector in Italy. An unusual number of infrastructure upgrade projects and subsidy cuts were among the main reasons for the rail freight decrease in Trieste and Monfalcone. More specifically, a subsidy for 115 million euros aimed at financing the renewal of rail rolling stock in Italy might completely disappear after already being reduced by 55 million euros.

Rail infrastructure upgrades throughout Europe, in addition, have caused a reverse modal shift, with more goods being moved via the road. This is a trend that is not expected to be resolved soon enough, as the closure for renovation of the Tauern tunnel, in Austria, will keep causing disruptions until the next summer.

Port of Trieste and Slovakia aim for continuation of growth trend: 500 trains next year

Dennis van der Laan — Wed, 20 Nov 2024 10:37:18 +0000

The Italian Port of Trieste and Slovakia were first connected via rail in 2016, when the first freight train took off in the direction of Dunajská Streda. Since then, freight traffic between the two has only shown an upward trend, and they are now looking to reach 500 annual trains by next year.
There has been significant growth in freight train roundtrips between the Italian port and Slovakia since 2017, says the port. Seven years ago, 150 trains serviced the route, and by 2023 that number exceeded 400 (27,500 TEU). The two sides are not only pursuing growth simply because there is demand for it, but also stress that it has a strategic role to play in European logistics.

A representative of the East Adriatic port authority, Vittorio Torbianelli, says that strengthening rail services between Trieste and Slovakia is not only growth in rail freight, “but also a strategic element of the logistical and economic relations” between Italy’s north east and Slovakia. “And in the future, we cannot forget the role of Slovakia as a connection route with Ukraine.”

Threefold increase

At the moment, there are 3 weekly rotations between Trieste and Dunajská Streda, and 2 rotations to Slovakia’s capital city Bratislava. In the coming months, the port is expecting significant upgrades to achieve 500 annual trains to Slovakia, a more than threefold increase from the 150 rotations in 2017.

Italy allocates 206 million euros for new terminal at the port of Trieste

Marco Raimondi — Fri, 08 Nov 2024 10:41:21 +0000

The Italian Interministerial Committee for Economic Planning and Sustainable Development (CIPESS) approved the funding for the first construction phase of the so-called Pier VIII container terminal at the port of Trieste. The financing from CIPESS amounts to 206.8 million euros. The facility will likely be managed by HHLA and rail freight should have a prominent role.
The total cost for the construction of the new terminal in Trieste revolves around 315 million euros. The remaining 109 will be covered by private investments, Italian media AdriaPorts specified. The first ships should be seen docking at the new Pier VIII by 2027. “Thanks to its integration with the railway, Pier VIII will increase cargo handling capacity and promote the development of the Port of Trieste”, said the Italian deputy minister of transport Edoardo Rixi.

International interest in Trieste

HHLA, based in Hamburg has been increasing its presence at the port of Trieste over the past few years. In 2020, for example, the German company acquired stakes in the Piattaforma Logistica Trieste, one of the many terminals in the port. The port of Trieste is attracting international interest not only from HHLA. MSC, for example, recently took over a facility at the port and reconverted it into a rolling stock production site. Moreover, the Hungarian government is working on building a terminal there to get an opening on the sea.

Quaying works for Hungarian terminal in Trieste to begin in September

Marco Raimondi — Thu, 22 Aug 2024 08:57:40 +0000

The realisation of Adria Port, a multimodal terminal in the port of Trieste managed by the Hungarian government, will be one step closer by the end of next year. The works for the partial quaying of the Noghere terminal will commence on 2 September 2024 and should be completed by 31 December 2025.
The quay works will result in a 350-metre-long dock with a depth of 11 meters, as Italian media Shipping Italy mentioned. Moreover, dredging actions will be taken and new road connections will be created. Once this project is commissioned, the terminal should see an additional 300,000 TEUs every year.

Hungary’s plans at the port of Trieste

The main beneficiary of the future terminal is Hungary, with rail freight as the central piece. The country is landlocked, and its government decided to build a terminal that would provide an opening on the sea, in this case the Adriatic. The terminal area will cover 34 hectares, including the Aquilinia station, soon to be equipped with four tracks suitable for 750-metres-long trains to serve the Adria Port terminal.

The total investment for the construction of the new terminal revolves around 200 million euros. The Port Authority of the Eastern Adriatic Sea, which manages the port of Trieste, will contribute with 45 million euros, while the Hungarian government will cover the rest. Operations are expected to start as early as 2026, with the aim to accommodate container traffic, general cargo, and Ro-Ro traffic.