The modern port of Bari was founded about 150 years ago. Located northwest side of the Old Town, its boundaries include the west side dock called San Cataldo and east side new Outer dock. The first dock built by the Bourbons (1853), thanks to its functionality, during the second half of the 19th Century becomes the benchmark of trade by sea and land in the province of Terra di Bari.

With the implementation of the New Port, the port of Bari assume a national and international dimension between the two World Wars.

In the '60s, the "Master Plan for the Port project" was drawn and it represented the first new business operation model of the port of Bari.