The first Taranto port settlement dates back to the eighth century BC and represented one of the most important commercial and maritime transport centers of Magna Graecia.

Roman domination signed, however, a long period of decline and the focus of trade relations with the East was shifted to other Mediterranean ports. The original Ionian port structure was recovered during the 14th Century with a planned extension in the current site of the cargo port.

After the Italian unification, Taranto took on the role of maritime stronghold and, in the basin of the Mar Piccolo, raised a structure that still represents a cornerstone of the Italian Navy: the Military Arsenal. In the early 60's the city became the seat of a big steel complex involving, of course, port's functionalities. To serve the steel industrial plant and its related services were made the three major docks and a pier to serve the refinery.

Thanks to the new Port Master Plan launched in 1980 other two docks have been added and, since 2001, the Multifunction Pier of Taranto hosts the modern container terminal which is the largest driving force of economic development in the future of Taranto and its region.