The ports of Venice and Trieste are expected to discuss the major issues of the evolution of maritime markets

"Meanwhile," Sommariva replied, "a story weighs centuries of distances between the two realities. Trieste asked protection to Austria to avoid Venetian domination. In Muggia, first outpost of the Istro-Veneto territory, the cannons were constantly focused on Trieste. Today, fortunately, he pointed out, it is possible to reason in different terms. There is no Maritime Republic dominating the seas and there is no small reality frightened and moved only by the will not to get swallowed up. Today Trieste and Venice, including the larger ports involving Chioggia and Monfalcone, are ports that refer to different markets and that can reference, through the appropriate synergies, of the growth of new trades. This strategic choice - noted the Secretary-General of the AdSP of the Eastern Adriatic - presupposes a North Adriatic protagonist of a new geography of the maritime traffic that values the south-north link through our sea and some areas of Central and South-East Europe.'

Bernardo reminded the interlocutor of North's experience Adriatic Ports Association (NAPA), the association of ports of Koper, Ravenna, Rijeka, Trieste and Venice was born to promote port of the northern Adriatic. "The relaunch of napa, an important tool for building a policy north-Adriatic port - noted Sommariva - it should be the relaunch of a common project. Would useful a collective reflection, far away, for a few hours, from the competition and the game of interests, to try to find a common strategic horizon, a vision of perspective and long-term Period. A stage in the journey aimed at redesigning the geography of trafficking as I said earlier.'

In addition to the experience of this transnational association, Bernardo also reminded Sommariva of the hypothesis formulated by the Professor Massimo Cacciari, former mayor of Venice, of establish a single Port System Authority that has competence on the two port systems of Venice and Trieste. "It is - replied Sommariva - a fascinating suggestion. I think however -- he added -- in the graduality and, as I said, processes that must mature in reality. In market and in the will of the different economic actors, institutional and social issues. In the meantime, it would be important to start more and more on the issues of synergies and possible integrations. For example, I would like to point out a very on which we are working, on a proposal from the Port of Venice, in the field of vocational training for workers in the port system. The creation of a training centre of Excellence North Adriatic, of national value and scope and - underlined Sommariva - would be a first step concrete towards the definition of further joint projects. What zeno d'agostino (president of the AdSP of the Adriatic) often repeats Eastern, ed),people are the first "infrastructure of the port." We are therefore starting from an extremely Important. Then there is - remarked Sommariva - a theme of general character with respect to which is the political debate and institutional to be extremely inadequate and backward. I am referring to the relationship between the general interest of the territories and the private one represented by shipping companies that operate in an oligopolistic market, giving rise to phenomena "vertical" integration that are increasingly entering also in conflict with the different players in the logistics market. See the recent affair between DB Schenker and Maersk after the choice of the latter to "skip" the intermediation represented by the freight forwarder. The theme is very complex and I obviously don't have any answers. The fact remains that we have a legislation that tends to prevent you from having two terminals of the same type in the same port but allows, with relative simplicity, to the same subject, to control many terminals in the different ports of the peninsula. There is a clear disproportion between the poor power of the territory and the affirmation of the wills of the great "liners", especially in the container segment. Think, in this regard, of the ease with which programs are sometimes changed, hijacked investments or planned new infrastructure. These issues - he concluded Sommariva - deserve further information and precisely on these, the ports, should talk more to each other."