• Bari port, and to some extent also Brindisi port, show a positive outlook in terms of total passenger traffic compared to the trend of the Italian ports overall considered; a positive rebound emerges after the COVID-19 lockdown that interrupted the passenger traffic internationally;

• the passenger traffic from Albanian ports has constantly ranged above 1 million passengers since 2010, showing a robust and persistent increase up to the years 2020-2021 when the COVID-19 pandemic determined a significant decline in passenger traffic, that anyway seems to be reverted in 2022; in this generally positive framework, Durres outperforms other ports in the country;

• the air passenger traffic trend of the Bari-Tirana city-pair is in line with the passenger traffic trend on the Bari-Durres route; indeed, it shows a robust performance before and after the COVID-19 pandemic, with a substantial increase in the total number of passengers by 42% from 2017 (56.344 pax) to 2022 (79.905 pax);

• concerning connectivity, port and train stations are located near each other; however, the transit from the port to the train station with public transport facilities is not always direct and is not frequently available; on the other hand, there is always an available public transport transit to (from) the nearest international airport.

However, transit from the ports considered to the train station by public transport is not always direct and is not frequently available (from the port of Bari in particular), especially at off-peak times (7pm-7am). In any case, it emerges from the analysis carried out that there is always the availability of public transport or private shuttles offering transit services from (to) the international airport closest to each of the ports considered.

Report prepared by:

• Alessandro Rubino - Associate Professor in Economic Policy of the Jonic Department in “Legal and Economic Systems of the Mediterranean: Society, Environment, Cultures”. Prof Rubino is a regulatory economist who has held numerous positions at public and private research institutions in Italy and the United Kingdom.

• Claudia Capozza - Associate Professor in Applied Economics of the Jonic Department in "Legal and Economic Systems of the Mediterranean: Society, Environment, Cultures", University of Bari Aldo Moro. She has gained significant experience in the study of industrial economics, business formation and innovation, and in the study of competition and pricing strategies in the air and rail transport markets.