Italian Port Strikes Escalate as 40-Port Walkout Set for Oct 30

A one-day stoppage that set up a bigger one

Italian dockworkers stopped work across the country on Monday, September 28. The 24-hour national strike was called by USB Mare e Porti and recorded in the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport's official register as running from 00:01 to midnight.1 It applied to companies operating under Articles 16, 17 and 18 of Port Law 84/94, to the port system authorities, and to firms that apply the national ports collective agreement.1 In practice that covered almost the whole coastline, from the Ligurian Sea across the Adriatic to Sicily and Sardinia.34

The effects on the day were real but patchy. Local reporting confirmed walkouts and demonstrations at Genoa, Livorno, Gioia Tauro and Civitavecchia.1 At Livorno, Terminal Darsena Toscana told customers it could not guarantee normal operations for the 24 hours.3 In Genoa, PSA SECH and PSA Genova Pra' had both warned they would be affected.1 Ports Europe later reported that container handling at Pra' had stopped altogether.31 Not every port was hit. Contship said no strike was planned at La Spezia, so it expected no specific disruption at its LSCT terminal.1

One detail in the coverage needs correcting. At least one travel-focused outlet listed the national port stoppage for September 29.10 The ministry register cited by trade press and terminal operators gives September 28.117 Shippers should rely on the official register and terminal advisories rather than secondary calendars.

The bigger point is that September 28 was a curtain-raiser. Freight planners should be watching October 30.

Pensions, hiring rules and a broken promise

The immediate grievance is narrow and specific. The unions want port work formally recognised as arduous labour for pension purposes, which would let dockworkers retire earlier.1 USB and Or.S.A. say the government agreed in May to set up a technical committee on the question and has never convened it.1 The union describes ship holds reaching 50°C, quays in extreme heat, and 24-hour shift patterns around heavy machinery and suspended loads. It also says more than half of operational workers are over 50.1 Kuehne+Nagel's pre-strike notice adds that USB was also seeking urgent measures to protect wages and purchasing power.7

The second issue may matter more over time. The unions oppose a proposed amendment to Italy's port reform that would let terminal operators hire temporary staff directly through employment agencies. That would bypass the Article 17 system, which supplies trained workers who know the specific risks of the docks.1 On this point the grassroots unions are not alone. Filt Cgil, Fit Cisl and Uiltrasporti, Italy's mainstream transport unions, have also publicly opposed the agency-hiring proposal.3

That overlap is the most important signal in the dispute. The pension demand belongs to USB and Or.S.A. Opposition to agency hiring, by contrast, runs across Italy's union movement. If the government pushes the amendment through, the risk of wider and longer stoppages goes up sharply.

From national strike to Mediterranean coordination

The September strike sits inside a much larger pattern of action. On October 15, USB and ORSA Porti held a press conference in Rome and named eight Italian ports for an international joint strike on October 30: Ancona, Civitavecchia, Genoa, Gioia Tauro, Livorno, Ravenna, Salerno and Trieste.11 The action is being coordinated through the Ports in Action network. Partners include France's CGT Ports et Docks, Greece's ENEDEP, the Basque union LAB, Turkey's Liman-İş, Morocco's ODT and India's Water Transport Workers Federation.11

The unions say the ports involved handle about 40% of Mediterranean container throughput, roughly 3 million TEU.11 One logistics provider passing on Shipping Italy's reporting described the alliance's share of Mediterranean container handling as more than 40%.13 Either way, these are the unions' own numbers and should be read as such. Still, a coordinated stoppage at Genoa, Gioia Tauro, Trieste and Piraeus on the same day would hit both gateway and transshipment flows. Piraeus's participation means any disruption to transshipment would reach well beyond Italy.11

The October 30 demands go further than the September ones. Unions are opposing the shipment of weapons through ports, port militarisation and job losses from automation, and they are calling for better pay and conditions.11 The Italian Times reports that the action builds on a February protest that brought out more than 20 ports, so the number of participating ports has roughly doubled.12 That February strike is a useful guide to what a well-supported day looks like. Zim and MSC ships were reportedly held offshore or diverted. USB reported a 78% stoppage at La Spezia. Container and RoRo terminals in Genoa were blocked, and intermodal traffic from Trieste into Austria and Germany was disrupted.1416 Those figures come from the union itself, but trade outlets reported them consistently and AIS data showed ships waiting at anchor.14

Where the coverage diverges on October 30

Reporting differs on how wide October 30 will be beyond the ports. One early-October strike calendar described that day's general strike as called by the grassroots union USI-CIT, with the core transport sectors exempt.9 More recent coverage says USB has turned the port action into a nationwide general strike across public and private sectors.11 Logistics, freight transport and some local transit workers are expected to join.11 Travel-sector reporting now lists registered stoppages for aviation, a rail strike running from 9 p.m. on October 29, taxis, motorway services and a separate 24-hour port strike.6

The most plausible reading is that the scope grew during October. The later, more detailed reports describe the situation as it now stands. Some uncertainty remains: Hamburg-based forwarder HMGL notes that Italy's strike regulator has raised holiday-period restrictions, so details may still change.13 Strikes in Italy are often announced well ahead and then changed or cancelled at short notice, so the register should be checked again 48 to 72 hours beforehand.5

Why freight rates will not show it

Shippers expecting these strikes to move ocean rates will probably be disappointed. Asia–Mediterranean spot pricing is being driven by capacity coming back through Suez, not by Italian labour action. On July 9, Drewry's assessment for Shanghai–Genoa was $6,463 per 40ft container. By October 8 it had fallen to $3,696, a 43% drop, as ships returned to the shorter Suez route.23 Xeneta's figures point the same way: its chief analyst said Mediterranean rates were down 43% since July 1.25 Drewry reported that Suez transits in week 39 were 68% higher than a year earlier.24

The last two weeks have brought a bounce. On October 15, Shanghai–Genoa rose 7% to $3,945, the first Asia–Europe increase after 13 straight weekly falls.22 On October 22 it rose another 5% to $4,152, and the composite World Container Index reached $4,585.21 Drewry linked the tightening to blank sailings: eight were announced for the following week, up from two.21 Carriers had also been trying to impose FAK rates of $4,500–$4,800 per 40ft from October 19.22

In other words, the rate rise comes from carriers cutting capacity and pushing prices. The strikes are not behind it. A one-day stoppage mostly shuffles the order of port calls. It does not take enough vessel capacity out of the market to change spot pricing.

Where the costs do land

The cost of Italian port strikes shows up on land, in charges that rate indices do not capture. Advisories ahead of October 30 warn that cargo stuck in terminals can build up storage and container detention charges. They also warn that container pickup and return, cargo handovers and onward transshipment can all slip if port and trucking stoppages happen on the same day.11 Earlier guidance on the September strike made a similar point: reduced terminal activity means delayed collections and deliveries, longer truck waits and disrupted onward schedules.15

Genoa had little slack to absorb a stoppage. Kuehne+Nagel reported delays of about five days there before the September strike, caused by rising imports, trucking shortages and limited rail capacity. Inland costs are also rising for other reasons. Maersk has raised its inland haulage fuel surcharges to 16%, and CMA CGM is introducing a new North Europe–North Africa surcharge from November 7.13 Shipments to ports inside the Arabian Gulf remain heavily restricted and subject to risk surcharges.13 A strike-related backlog at a gateway that is already congested therefore adds cost on top of an inland supply chain whose costs are already climbing.

There is no sign of shortages. Nothing reported points to stockouts linked to the Italian stoppages, and treating one-day strikes as a supply crisis would overstate them. The realistic risk is that delays compound. Italian labour action has been nearly continuous in 2026: assemblies and a national strike in May that suspended operations at Genoa, Gioia Tauro and Livorno,18 the September 28 walkout, a 48-hour dockworkers' strike at Naples and Salerno reported in mid-October,13 and now October 30. Each one costs a day. Together, they mean carriers and shippers have to plan Italian calls around a standing labour risk.

The reading

The Italian port dispute has turned from a series of separate grievances into an organised campaign. Pensions and hiring rules are now linked to anti-militarisation demands that cross borders. For ocean freight rates the effect is small, because Suez capacity and carrier blank sailings matter far more. For landside costs, schedule reliability and the choice between routing through Italy and alternative gateways, the effect is significant and growing. The practical step before October 30 is to confirm vessel calls, trucking and customs arrangements now, and to consider rerouting or holding time-sensitive cargo.11