The XIV National Report on the economy of the sea, presented in Rome as part of the “Blue Forum 2026” and edited by the “Tagliacarne” study center, is the main tool for quantifying the Italian “Blue Economy”, from the fishing supply chain to shipbuilding, from the movement of goods and passengers to coastal tourism. The data shows 2024 for added value and employment and the end of 2025 for business demography.
For a city like Messina, which literally lives on water and of water, reading the Report is not just an academic exercise, because the Sea is also an asset to be measured, organized and valorised. The Report allows us to ask a precise question, i.e. what value does the Messina economy extract from its maritime condition, and how much does it allow to waste? The answer lies in the numbers. At a national level, the maritime economy will count, at the end of 2025, 253,599 companies and employ over 1.1 million people. In 2024 it generated 78.9 billion in direct added value which, with approximately 146 billion in indirect and induced effects, bring the overall impact to 224.9 billion, or 11.4 percent of global added value on a national basis. The dynamics is what matters most, because the “blue” added value grew by 3.8 percent against 2.1 for the economy as a whole; employment by 4.2 percent, triple the general figure, equal to over 46 thousand more workers in a year.
The Report also signals a structural transformation, because ten years ago maritime logistics represented 16.6 percent of “blue” added value, today about a quarter. The center of gravity of the sea system is shifting towards the mobility of goods and people, which after all is exactly the function that geography has assigned to the Strait of Messina.
For the Messina area, the multiplicative force of its system represents the most important factor and the Report demonstrates that not all segments of the maritime economy generate the same value. On average, every euro produced directly by the “blue” sectors activates 1.8 in the rest of the economy; but the average hides enormous gaps. The movement of goods and passengers by sea has the highest multiplier, i.e. 2.7; this means that its direct 18.2 billion activates a further 49.7. Shipbuilding follows with 2.4, while accommodation and catering – despite being the largest sector, with 24.7 billion direct – activate a coefficient of 1.8, like the fish supply chain.
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