European Union: How TEN-T Infrastructure Supports International Trade

A route grinds to a halt, a port slows its operations, a motorway flow is interrupted, a strait suddenly becomes unstable. It is precisely when infrastructure is challenged by global events that the economy reveals its deep interdependence with it.

The conflict that has erupted in the Persian Gulf, much like the Covid-19 pandemic or the war in Ukraine before it, has made this reality unmistakably clear. The major flows underpinning international trade are neither automatic nor guaranteed: they depend on chokepoints—critical nodes that concentrate traffic, interests and tensions. The Strait of Hormuz is one such logistics hub, among the most congested and closely monitored in the world, and its vulnerability tells a broader story: the connections we take for granted can prove fragile.

Yet it is precisely within this fragility that the key to understanding Europe’s centrality in the global economy can be found. If the world is a network, Europe is one of its densest, most intricate and most structured nodes. This is not due to its territorial size or demographic dynamism, but to something more profound: the quality and integration of its infrastructure.

This reality is explored in depth in the special issue of Aspenia, “Smart Infrastructures”, where the analysis of the impact of major infrastructures begins with Europe’s role in the new global geopolitical context.

“Infrastructures,” write Marta Dassù and Roberto Menotti in the introduction to the special issue of Aspenia, “are a lever for economic growth and development, but they are now becoming something even more valuable: both an active and a defensive instrument for addressing geoeconomic competition, at national level and in cooperation with allied countries.”

Global Gateway: Responding to the Evolution of International Trade

Even as this network consolidated, the global context was shifting. Asian growth, the intensification of Euro-Asian routes and the emergence of new infrastructure initiatives pushed Europe to look beyond its borders. It is at this juncture that TEN-T networks ceased to be merely an internal instrument and became the foundation for outward projection.

Thus emerged the Global Gateway, the natural extension of the European transport network towards global corridors. It is not simply about investment, but about a model: financial sustainability, high environmental standards, multilateral governance and integration with local economies. An alternative to major infrastructure initiatives promoted by other powers, and a response to intensifying geoeconomic competition.

The Role of European Transport Infrastructure in the Global Geopolitical Game

If the European Union has built one of the world’s most integrated infrastructure networks over time, the challenge it now faces extends beyond internal cohesion to its capacity to project outward in a rapidly evolving global landscape.

In this context, a key role is played by major trade corridors—from the Strait of Hormuz to the Suez and Panama Canals—which are becoming increasingly central to state security policies.

“Economy and the use of force, meaning trade and coercion,” explain Marta Dassù and Roberto Menotti in their contribution, “often converge in those small, nerve-center areas that hold a disproportionate role compared to their size. Today, thousands of large container ships pass incessantly through Suez, Gibraltar, the Strait of Sicily, the Bosphorus, Malacca, and Panama, followed or monitored by satellites and sometimes by military convoys (the few mega-aircraft carriers patrolling the world, but also invisible submarines). Chokepoints are not necessarily physical locations, yet they all inevitably rely on material infrastructure.”

TEN-T Networks Beyond Borders: The European Economy Looks Toward India

The development of new infrastructure thus becomes essential to solidify strategic relations, such as those between the European Union and the Indo-Pacific, and particularly with India.

The figures help convey the scale of the phenomenon. According to Eurostat, in 2024 the total value of trade between the European Union and the Indo-Pacific—covering imports and exports of goods—reached €850 billion. Of this, €398 billion corresponded to European exports (47%), while €452 billion were imports (53%). This balance reflects an already established relationship, yet one still far from reaching its full potential.

The distribution of these exchanges is particularly striking. Of the 46 countries in the region, four alone account for more than half of the total: Japan (15.5%), South Korea (14.6%), India (14.1%) and, perhaps less expectedly, Vietnam (7.9%). All other countries contribute to a lesser, though still significant, extent.

Recent trends reinforce this perspective. Over the past twelve years, trade between the European Union and the Indo-Pacific has grown at an average annual rate of 4.4%, while trade with India has expanded even more rapidly, at 6.5% per year.

Major international economic institutions—from the International Monetary Fund to the OECD and the World Trade Organization—converge on this point: global trade will continue to grow, increasingly driven by these emerging regions. In this scenario, Europe’s ability to connect effectively to these trade flows will be decisive.

Once again, the issue returns to infrastructure. As markets expand and global trade routes multiply, what ultimately makes the difference is the capacity to intercept, sustain and stabilise them. It is here that the TEN-T network—built over recent decades—can become a decisive competitive advantage.

“An intelligent approach to 21st-century geoeconomics,” write Dassù and Menotti, “should be grounded precisely in the logic of major infrastructure: a logic that considers technical efficiency but also sustainability (both environmental and economic), public utility and security. In this sense, the decisions taken today and the projects now being launched will have an impact in the medium and long term. It is essential that they rest on solid foundations.”

Italy’s Central Role in Maritime Transport and European Logistics

Observing the direction of goods flows along the continent’s south–north axis, Italy emerges as one of the main nodes of the TEN-T, traversed by four strategic corridors that define its key role in the logistics network.

The Mediterranean Corridor, the Rhine-Alpine Corridor, the Baltic-Adriatic Corridor, and the Scandinavian-Mediterranean Corridor –the most extensive in the entire European system, spanning 4,800 kilometers to connect Palermo to Helsinki across the entire continent.

In this context, references to ports such as Genoa or Ravenna do not denote individual facilities, but complex logistical systems: in the former case, the entire Ligurian port system; in the latter, the upper Adriatic basin.

Within this network, Italian ports are assuming an increasingly significant role. The development of trade corridors towards India via the Middle East represents a concrete opportunity to consolidate ongoing economic growth and, in the medium term, bring traffic volumes closer to those of Northern Europe’s major ports.

The data confirm this trend: according to SRM’s research centre in Naples, in the first half of 2025 Italian ports handled nearly 250 million tonnes of goods, with overall growth of 1.2%. Current dynamics suggest a significant evolution. Should the positive trend continue into the second half of 2025, the total volume of goods handled by Italian ports could match, on an annual basis, that of the Port of Rotterdam.

This remains an ambitious comparison, yet one indicative of a clear trajectory. Moreover, the Mediterranean is already showing signs of strengthening relative to Northern Europe: in 2024, more than 82 million containers were handled along Mediterranean routes, compared with 61 million in North Sea ports, measured in TEU (twenty-foot equivalent units).

In this context, the Italian port system finds itself in a potentially favourable position. Although still handling lower volumes than the major northern logistics hubs, the combination of geographical location, hinterland efficiency and rail transport could transform Italy into an increasingly central node in trade flows between Europe and the Indo-Pacific.

The challenge now is no longer merely to capture economic growth, but to sustain it over time through targeted investment in infrastructure modernisation, with impacts extending beyond the economic sphere to social and territorial dimensions.