GENOVA, June 6 -- The numbers arriving at Fedespedi's annual assembly in Genoa on Thursday told a story that no single headline figure could contain. Italian ports handled 4.6 percent fewer container units in the first quarter of 2026 than in the same period a year earlier - a decline that sounds manageable until you disaggregate it by geography and realize it describes two entirely different realities operating side by side.

In Trieste, containers fell 23.6 percent. In Savona, 14.1 percent. These are not rounding errors or statistical noise. They are the measurable signature of a supply chain earthquake that began on February 28, when United States and Israeli strikes on Iran triggered what has become the effective closure of the Strait...