The port of Ancona is managed by Central Adriatic Ports Authority.Central Adriatic Ports Authority is partner of the 2019 edition of Adriatic Sea Forum.
The port has a long history of passenger traffic with destinations in the Balkans, Greece and eastern Mediterranean: more than one million passengers on ferries, all international, pass through Ancona every year, while in recent years the cruise traffic has shown a positive recovery with the inclusion of the port and the Marche region in the fascinating itineraries in the Adriatic and eastern Mediterranean. The calls of the Ancona port, besides monuments and museums (such as the Arch of Trajan, Mole Vanvitelliana, Ancona Cathedral), offer the opportunity to get to know a land full of artistic testimonies, cultural traditions and enchanting landscapes: the beaches and the untouched nature of Conero, Urbino (declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO), the caves of Frasassi, Loreto, Assisi and Gubbio easily reached from the port. To welcome the cruise and ferry boat passengers, the Central Adriatic Ports Authority, the Chamber of Commerce, the Municipality, the Province of Ancona e Marche region, gave life to an initiative called “Welcome to Ancona” in 2005 offering them personal assistance and tourist information, provided through APP as well, with the goal of opening the city to the passengers of the port and improving their experience.
The ferry traffic makes Ancona one of the main multimodal hubs of the Adriatic highways, connecting regular sea lines to Greece, Croatia and Albania with inland transport corridors for goods and passengers to the Central and Western Europe. The multi-functionality of the call permits the efficient management of container and bulk traffic making Ancona the call reference in Adriatic for the central Italian territory.
Moreover, the port of Ancona represents one of the main national shipbuilding and marine centres: there are 5 active shipyards in the call, specialised in the construction of luxury cruise ships and yachts with renowned brands awarded at the main world trade shows. The strategic asset of the port of Ancona’s shipbuilding industry, besides the skilled workers specialised in high quality, is the constant product innovation. The luxury shipbuilding sector is located in the port alongside the Marina Dorica – the main nautical centre of Ancona and one of the ports with the greatest number of available berths in the Adriatic.
Besides Ancona, the Central Adriatic Ports Authority manages other 5 ports of national importance on the central Italian Adriatic coast: included in the port system are Pesaro, Falconara Marittima, San Benedetto del Tronto, Pescara and Ortona. The six ports represent an increasingly integrated system, with some particularly dynamic elements of specialization, such as the development of niche cruise lines, passenger traffic on fast lines to the Croatian coast, shipbuilding and storage. Ortona is the second call of the port system for cargo handling and sea highways. The Abruzzo call included along with Pesaro in the cruise itineraries is exploring the Italian Adriatic coast promoted by extremely well- maintained small boats directed towards a selected clientele, while the passenger traffic on fast boats enriches the tourist offer of the Pesaro port in the summer months. Having been relaunched in Pesaro with a significant private investment in 2017, the shipbuilding industry is undergoing strong development in San Benedetto del Tronto and Ortona as well.
For more information Central Adriatic Ports Authority