Italian operator eyes bigger picture

Daniele Testi, marketing manager, Contship Italia, told Port Strategy at this year’s TOC Europe exhibition that targeting more business in Europe is viable because shippers are starting to realise the multitude of benefits of shipping south through Italy rather than just through the northern European hubs.

“Italian ports can be a great cost-saving solution. Shipping through the shorter southern route can be less expensive and save fuel bringing all of the environmental benefits that go along with this too,” he said.

Contship Italia has good rail connections connecting all of its six terminals (five in Italy, one in Morocco) to its most northernmost terminal La Spezia, which acts as a transhipment hub with international connections well equipped to deal with reliable onward transfer of boxes.

The group commands 52% of the transhipment market in Italy. La Spezia handles 37% of this and the target is to move towards 50% by 2018.

La Spezia is currently undergoing €200m in investment to enable it to handle the increased amount of cargo and it is also looking to increase the amount of cargo turned around at sea to help take the pressure off of quayside operations.

Mr Testi admitted though that the benefits of shipping south are taking a while to get through to the market.

“We just need to inform the supply chain about the benefits of shipping through our terminals and convince them that it is a sustainable solution,” he said.