The Port Authority of Gioia Tauro Harbour was established in 1998. In 2006 and 2008, the area covered by the Port Authority was increased to cover the Port of Crotone, the town of Corigliano Calabro (Italian), and the Taureana area of Palmi (Italian). Expansion of the port authority's territory created a network of harbors. The Port Authority of Gioia Tauro Harbour is located next to the Harbormaster's office overlooking the harbor canal.

In 2007, Gioia Tauro Harbour was visited by over three thousand vessels carrying 3.7 million TEUs of containerized cargo. At that time, Gioia Tauro Harbour represented over one third of Italy's shipping traffic. The main operator in Gioia Tauro Harbour is the Medcenter Container Terminal.

Classified as a commercial and industrial port, Gioia Tauro Harbour is primarily a transshipment hub. Its infrastructure is made up of an artificial 220-meter (721.8-feet) wide, 8-kilometer (5-mile) long channel that is parallel to the shore, a deep-water basin, and two long quays. The south turning basin has a diameter of 750 meters (2460 feet), and the north turning basin's diameter is 450 meters (1476 feet). Water depths in Gioia Tauro Harbour range from 12.5 to 18 meters (41 to 59 feet).

Gioia Tauro Harbour contains a port area of 350 hectares, and the industrial site adjacent to the port covers 360 hectares. Located on the main quay, the Medcenter Container Terminal (the transshipment area of Gioia Tauro Harbour) covers about 150 hectares.

Gioia Tauro Harbour contains a total of 5,152 meters (16.9 thousand feet) of quays. The quay for container transshipments is 3391 meters (11.1 thousand feet) long. In 2010, Gioia Tauro Harbour handled over 2.8 million TEUs of containerized cargo.

The quay for transshipment of automobiles in Gioia Tauro Harbour is 384 meters (1.2 thousand feet) long. The car carrier terminal in Gioia Tauro Harbour handled 75 thousand cars in 2007. Operated by a joint venture between German BLG Logistics Group and Japan's ICO Shipping Company, the automobile terminal handles mainly Asian brands that are moving through Gioia Tauro Harbour between Japan, Thailand, Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Turkey, and India.

Gioia Tauro Harbour's roll-on/roll-off quay berth is 200 meters (656.2 feet) long. The quay for commercial and passenger traffic is 920 meters (three thousand feet) long, and the quay for port services is 257 meters (843 feet) long.

The Gioia Tauro Harbour contains 155 hectares for the storage of transshipment containers and 24 hectares for the storage of transshipment cars. It also has three hectares devoted to commercial and passenger traffic.

Terminal operators in Gioia Tauro Harbour is responsible for direct relations with customers and the maritime companies that work as suppliers for the terminal and provide maritime services that include loading/unloading, warehousing, and distribution of cargo.

While authorities have tried to develop more services in Gioia Tauro Harbour, industrial development has been slow to date.

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