Setramar, the second largest operator in Italy (after Fhp) in the bulk goods handling sector, will invest 20 million euros over the next two years to develop and consolidate its position in the port of Ravenna, where it operates on four multipurpose terminals (Lloyd, Soco, Eurodocks, and the eponymous Setramar). The resources in question will focus on increasing intermodality and artificial intelligence (AI). Not only that. Beyond this investment plan, the company aims to make acquisitions in other ports, starting from the upper Adriatic. This is explained by the CEO, Carlo Merli, who outlines the group’s strategy.
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«The majority shareholder of Setramar – recalls the manager – is the Anglo-American fund Davidson Kempner, which has controlled the company for over two years now, that is since June 2024. During this period, the company, besides consolidating its commercial positioning, has also worked deeply on human resource organization, optimization of the technologies used, and on aspects that can help strengthen our positioning: intermodality is one of these. And so the decision to proceed with 20 million in investments, which we will develop over the next two years, is an integral part of a multi-year business plan that foresees, to support volume growth, the development and increase of our intermodal capacities, to and from the port of Ravenna, as well as the growth of IT technologies».
Between January and July 2026, Merli highlights, «the volume of our traffic at the Ravenna terminal grew by 14% compared to the same period in 2025. With a dynamic, in seven months, better than the overall port which, according to official statistics from the Port System Authority, stood at +5.5% for all commodities combined. Now, therefore, we aim to consolidate our operational capacity».
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The 20 million investment over 24 months, which will conclude in the first half of 2028, continues the CEO, «is linked both to the construction of a new rail connection for the Lloyd terminal, and to the renewal of the lifting equipment of that terminal and the other three, to make loading and unloading operations more efficient, on the quay and on the train. We, moreover, are already the main generator of rail traffic in the port of Ravenna: we operate, on average, between 25 and 30 trains per week, for 52 weeks a year; and we are investing so that this percentage increases, allowing us to intercept traffic for the various commodities we handle». That is steel products, cereals and flours, fertilizers and minerals (these are the four lines of activity of Setramar, to which general cargo and project cargo are added to a lesser extent).
Part of the investment, moreover, will be directed, as mentioned, towards computerization which, says Merli, «is the other frontier on which all operators in our sector are investing. We are no exception: we have an important development program, which also includes the application, currently experimental but to be fully implemented, of AI tools, particularly regarding planning, optimization, and utilization of storage spaces: important variables for the efficiency and profitability of terminals».
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