This trade is where GIMAR began: German Italian Maritime stands for a broking team at home on both sides – in Buxtehude near Hamburg and in the Italian market. That pays off less on the chart than on the phone: negotiations run in both languages and with knowledge of the respective trading customs.

Ports in focus

Hamburg, Bremen, Brake, Rostock, Lübeck, Rotterdam and Antwerp in the north – Ravenna, Venice, Trieste, Monfalcone, Genoa, Livorno, Naples, Salerno and the Sicilian ports in the south.

Transit (indicative)

North Sea port to the Upper Adriatic roughly 9 to 13 days, depending on port rotation, weather and speed.

Typical cargoes

Steel and scrap, project and heavy-lift cargo, building materials, agricultural products, paper and pulp.

What matters

  • Gibraltar as the bottleneck in voyage planning: distance is the real cost driver here, not cargo handling.
  • Italian ports differ widely in handling equipment and working hours – the laytime agreement decides the voyage cost.
  • Emissions regulation (EU ETS, FuelEU Maritime) applies to this trade in full and belongs in the calculation.
  • Bilingual handling removes the friction that otherwise costs time on this route with some regularity.

If you ship regularly between Germany and Italy, a volume contract is worth a look instead of single fixtures – it takes the seasonal peaks out of the trade.

Frequently asked

How long does a sea transport from Germany to Italy take?

As a guide, a North Sea port to the Upper Adriatic runs to roughly 9 to 13 days, depending on port rotation, vessel speed and weather. Ligurian ports such as Genoa and Livorno sit at the lower end of that range, Adriatic ports further up. We only give binding figures for the specific voyage.

Why a German-Italian broker for this trade?

Because a good share of the friction on this route is not nautical but communicative: different trading customs, different expectations around laytime and documents. A team that negotiates in both markets settles this before the fixture rather than during the voyage.

Enquire about a cargo Terms in the glossary All trading areas