Tripmare S.p.A. - Towage and Salvage

"20/11/2013 Trieste Molo VI is supported by railway"

Soaring trades for Francesco Parisi terminal, while the Julian entrepreneur gets ready for spending the next two years at the helm of FIATA.
As reported by Francesco Parisi, head of the long dating Julian company specialized in shipping and logistic activities, Trieste port will soon reach saturation.

Trieste native manager, just appointed President of FIATA, International Federation of freight forwarders Associations, for the next two years pinpointed that:
"This is a very important commitment, I've been following FIATA and particularly Sea Transport group's operations since long and 4 years ago I was appointed vice President of the Association. FIATA is a mean to overview the whole sector and understand its dynamics".
The association encompasses 100 members (for Italy is Fedespedi) and over 5,000 individuals (single forwarding agents); it was founded in Wien in 1926 and Trieste Association of forwarders was listed among the early members.
"For the time being FIATA is Advisory member of UN, entrusted to issue documentations (as the bill of loading) and to care professional education of the category".
Parisi will attempt drawing international attention to the needs of Italian logistic industry, heavily affected by bureaucratic hindrances and by several other criticalities, such as the so called 'minimum costs'".
According to the Italian entrepreneur, haulage contractors' minimum-cost rule "conceals real fixed rates, countering European fair competition rules, being encompassed in the old public subsidy to road transport which prevented this category from developing as in other European countries". Such hindrances didn't hamper Parisi from developing his business even throughout a tough crisis like the ongoing one. "Even if traditional forwarding business is ailing, Italian economy is stuck and only export is recording better, although not substantial figures".
A different matter is Europa Multipurpose Terminals, the company of the group boasting concession on the Molo VI of Trieste (from 2010 to 2034) mainly engaged in trailers intermodal handling and lately tank containers and 45' boxes".
EMT's initiative is based on a strategic choice:
"A few years ago we realized we could have shifted part of trade between Eastern Mediterranean (Turkey and neighbouring countries) and Central Europe (mainly Germany), shipped by road and sea, with accompanied means, by rail. In 2008 we launched, together with Turkish operator Ekol, still our customer, a weekly train from Trieste to Germany".
Parisi won concession on the Molo VI and started substantial investments to handle intermodal trades, providing 70,000 square meters area, 4 x 400 meters tracks, 1,500 meters quay, a 50,000 cubic meters warehouse, 10 port tractors and 4 reachstackers. For the time being EMT receives 3 weekly calls operated by Ekol on the Trieste-Istanbul lane, it's connected to Central Europe by rail thanks to 25 couple of weekly trains: 10 to Koln - Eifeltor (Germany); 7 to Ludwigshafen (Germany); 3 to Bettembourg (Luxembourg); 2 to Ostrava (the Czech Republic) and, as from October 8th, even 3 weekly couples with double stop in Germany (Ludwigshafen and Frankfurt).
"In 2012 the group's terminal handled overall 42,000 trailers, 52% of which (22,500 units) arrived/departed from MET quays by train. According to this year forecast, overall handling soared by 95% reaching 82,000 semi-trailers, 55,000 of which (67% of the total) handled by rail. Intermodal trades grew annually by 144%, fostered by sea-rail combined transport, more reliable that the sole-rail along the Balkan Peninsula and more competitive than the sole-road".
The substantial growth wasn't induced by trade increase, definitely missing, but from the fact that Francesco Parisi succeeded in ripping trade volumes from other means of transport.
"The group's growth was fostered by the excellent rail links existing in Trieste and by the highly competitive prices spurred by rail markets fair competition followed beyond the Alps, unlike Italy, still operating in a monopolistic market".
However this is not the only Italian problem:
"The first commitment should be upgrading existing infrastructures which can definitely support soaring trades. If in Trieste port we could operate on 3 shifts instead of 2, this would definitely enhance our companies' competitiveness".
Regarding strategies, Parisi reports that random subsidies are useless and that guidelines should be pivoting on real strategic targets to upgrade national port system.
"Eastern Mediterranean market still boasts a huge growing potential (i.e. the opening of Iran borders), therefore we should be ready to enter new flows and current infrastructures won't last forever".
Francesco Parisi, joining Temporary enterprise Association with other operators, bid on the tender called by Port Authority on the logistic platform, but final verdict will be issued by the end of this year.

Source: Ship2Shore - Francesco Bottino