Noting that the Northern European logistics system, which hinges on ports such as Rotterdam, Hamburg, Antwerp, is under stress, "with by now an evident contraction in efficiency levels, a phenomenon of congestion, expectations also for large ocean-going ships", the president of Federagenti, Paolo Pessina, sees fruitful opportunities for Italian ports. Observing that this situation "has precedents during the crisis caused by Covid" and that the current heat wave with a consequent drought risks affecting the navigability of the most important European waterways, "with the abrupt decrease in the draught of rivers such as the Rhine and the Elbe", Pessina points out in a note that this scenario "opens up an opportunity unexpected for the ports of the Mediterranean and Italy in particular".

Those who see the misfortunes of others - it is said - consider it light his misfortune. Because, certainly, the ports are misfortunes including the Italian ones, are accusing, for example, the crisis in the Middle East, which has drastically reduced the maritime traffic through the Suez Canal. It is evidently aware of Pessina himself when he says that the one to be envisaged is "a unique opportunity that could be consolidated with the return to full operation of Suez as well as obviously with a process of pacification in the areas overwhelmed by the ongoing geopolitical crises".

Given that Federagenti, and the Italian shipping agents who represents, at the moment they can do nothing but stay at the hoping that the international crisis will be resolved positively, Pessina shifts the focus to the national scene, In which, he warns, "we hope, as has often happened in the past, not to hurt ourselves. The ports - underlines Pessino - need efficient governance right away, the system logistical of a reduction in bureaucratic constraints, also using the weapon of decrees and even circulars administrative. Unfortunately, we cannot afford the luxury of wait for the long time of a port reform. We be efficient immediately also to lay the foundations for a of new infrastructures in construction, as they enter service; from the dam to the third pass - clarifies the Genoese Pessina referring to the work and the railway service serving the port of Genoa - also overcoming any hesitation relating to motorway junctions to be dissolve immediately with a view to doing".

"All the major northern European hubs," Pessina concludes, "are saturated, worse than during Covid congestion; Barges Containers in Rotterdam face delays of 77 hours before they can and the large industries that have been reducing stocks for years in stock risk blocking production due to a global logistics system that beats on the head. If not now, when? When to make the three extra days of navigation count between Mediterranean and Northern Europe, when to make the move to the south count of the centre of gravity of trafficking in Europe? If we lose this challenge, the It will be our fault alone, of the endless debates on the choices of the presidents of the ports, of a reform that is not being done, of bureaucratic and customs procedures that everyone agrees to zero, but no one makes concrete moves."

Certainly the accusations made by Pessina are well-founded, except for the one on the "interminable debates on the choices of the presidents of the ports" that have never been so short as this year, aware as they are of the fact that today, with the laws of Today, the presidents of the ports are imposed by the Minister of Transport. Infrastructure and Transport and if it does not do so, it is only for the problems that these appointments create within the government and the parties that support him.