Creating a system to maintain and increase competitiveness of the ports of the northern Tyrrhenian Sea. This is the proposal launched today during the conference "Under the sign of the port" held in La Spezia at the auditorium of the port "Giorgio S. Bucchioni". In order to "create a system", obviously, we do not The reform of port regulations has been sufficient implemented in 2016 mainly with the aim of identifying "port systems" to be placed under the government of the of the Port System.

However, in the port area, parochialism seems difficult to more than in other sectors, as seems to be confirmed by the the speech at the conference of the Chairman of the Port System of the Eastern Ligurian Sea: «It has always been Mario Sommariva - the ports do not cooperate, they fight each other and they lose the real confrontation, which is the one with the ports of the North Europe'. To get out of this area, which is now gangrenous, the Sommariva's proposal goes beyond the boundaries of jurisdiction managed by the presiding authority, which includes the ports of call of La Spezia and Marina di Carrara: "Today, in a situation of alert," he explained, referring to the tensions geopolitical developments, "La Spezia, strengthened by the experience of success of real coordination and integration with Carrara, launches an offer of concrete collaboration, first in Genoa and Savona, in order to present itself on the market as a coordinated system that in logistics, railways and the provision of services even if they are supplementary to the difficulties of others, his key winner'.

A proposal that no one knows how it will be accepted by the interlocutor explicitly called into question: the Authority of the Port System of the Western Ligurian Sea, which governs the ports of Genoa and Savona, today seems to be looking more than ever at the "cases of and in the past, when there were two Authorities Dockers who managed the two ports, in Genoa of alliance and of "doing team" was spoken only with reference to the ports of Marseille and Barcelona, with intentions that went a little further a few handshakes.

But from La Spezia they seem to be asking for more. Second Federica Montaresi, Secretary General of the Port Authority of the Ligurian Sea A systemic response today "is no longer A slogan, but a compelling necessity to spend resources rationally and to place the major works and first and foremost the at the service of the demand that arises from the economic system of the A country that is also getting out of outdated mental and cultural patterns. In the case of Liguria, by coordinating and not opposing the efforts of La Spezia and Carrara with that of Genoa and Savona, which in the next few years will face the operational impact of the construction sites for the construction of major works'.

The 2016 reform, supported by several the need to concentrate investment in those ports where there is actually needed, it cannot be said for certain that he had success if this was one of the primary objectives, even if it is It is reasonable to suspect that the advocates of this necessity had other things in mind (but what? We haven't figured it out yet).

If to bring down bell towers, which have stood for centuries in Italy (but also abroad, including Northern Europe), is not If a piece of legislation has been sufficient, perhaps more effort is needed. And This is also the case with the president of the Association of shipping agents Assagenti: "It's time - he said agreed by Paolo Pessina in his speech - to overcome the and launch a major marketing operation especially in the Italian and non-Italian industry, the image of the of a port system of the Tyrrhenian arc (today just under 60% of the country's containers) are able to also respond with coordinated and efficient logistics to the demand for services'.

Once the meeting is over, listen to the intentions, it doesn't seem like secondary, to note that the proposal to "create a system" launched by La Spezia has not been extended to Piombino and Livorno. Maybe it will be in the "second instance", or maybe the Tuscan ports, even on the clearest days, are too distant to see them from the top of the bell tower.

B.B.