Thanks to the investment of the German logistics group Hamburger Hafen und Logistik Ag (HHLA), the North-Eastern Italian port will become a central hub of sea-rail exchange between Europe and the Far East.
Trieste becomes a fundamental hub for the integration of logistics and port networks between Northern and Southern Europe: HHLA, terminal operator of the Port of Hamburg, (the second of Europe after Rotterdam) has closed an agreement with the partners Icop SpA (construction) and Francesco Parisi SpA (freight forwarder) to become the first shareholder of the Trieste Logistics Platform at the end of 2020, one of the largest maritime infrastructure built in Italy in the last 10 years.
The ceremony for the signature of the contract will take place on the 30th September at the presence of the Italian Minister of Economic Development Stefano Patuanelli and the CEO of HHLA Angela Titzrath. This is a further step towards the creation of a logistics leading group in Europe, which will develop a terminal in Trieste, serving the sea-rail system of the Countries of Central-Eastern Europe.
The most accomplished implementation of the Silk Road does not end with the Chinese-designed Belt And Road Initiative. So far, a strong European vision was lacking, capable of integrating and balancing points of view and interests from Asia. This is the strategic contribution that comes today from Trieste, a port with an international soul as evidenced by the numerous foreign capital already present, including Turkey, Switzerland, Denmark, Hungary, just to name the main ones.
Trieste rediscovers its natural Central-Northern European outlet basin, which in the past made the Porto Franco great.
Zeno D’Agostino, President of the Eastern Adriatic Sea Port System Authority
The German HHLA employs 6,300 employees and handles 7.5 million TEUs of containers, developing a turnover of 1,350 million euros. HHLA has four terminals in the port of Hamburg, one terminal in Odessa (Ukraine) and one in Tallinn (Estonia). It is listed on the Stock Exchange of Frankfurt, but its majority shareholder is the State City of Hamburg with 68,4% of shares.
Over the past few years the Adriatic region has developed very dynamically. Trieste is the northernmost port in the Mediterranean and at the same time the southern outlet of central and eastern Europe. This participation constitutes a significant extension of our current port and intermodal network. The terminal offers us the opportunity to intercept new flows of changing goods and to actively participate in their evolution. With this operation we reaffirm our ambitions and our desire for international growth. At the same time, we intend to further strengthen our Hamburg terminals through investments in facilities and technologies. We are a Hamburg-based company but we feel at home in Europe and we operate globally.
Angela Titzrath, CEO of HHLA
The logistics hub of Trieste
The Logistics Platform was created with an investment of over 150 million euros (Port System Authority of the Eastern Adriatic Sea contributed for 99 million/euros) to respond to the growth trend of freight traffic of the sea port of North-Eastern Italy. The project was developed in an area of 12 hectares, South of the port of Trieste, by a consortium, composed by the freight forwarder Francesco Parisi, the construction company ICOP and Bologna airport.
The subsequent purchase of the adjacent “Scalo Legnami” terminal doubled the original surface area of the project started in February 2016, creating a terminal, which reached an extension of 24 hectares, equipped with a double docking and railway connection and a concession for duration thirty years. The integration of the Logistics Platform with the surrounding areas was favoured by the signing of the Program Agreement of the Ministry of Economic Development, for the implementation of the industrial reconversion project in the industrial area of the “Ferriera di Servola”, which recently turned off its blast furnace, after 123 years of activity.
A sustainable logistics hub will be created in the area to serve the port and the local economy. According to the agreement, the conversion will take 5 years, divided into 3 phases, and an investment value of 98 million. The area is equipped with the railway connection of Servola station, which will be able to manage complete trains of 750 meters, and a direct motorway junction on the highway network.
