Venezia Port Community lists five priorities to safeguard the competitiveness of the ports of Venice and Chioggia and support the economy of the lagoon area

Highlighting that there has never been and never will be antithesis between port work and protection of the Lagoon and that only thanks to investments and the economic impact deriving from the activities rooted and innervated in the Lagoon this will be able to be the subject of interventions that are very necessary to guarantee long life to the entire social, natural and economic ecosystem, the Committee listed five priorities for the port system of Veneto can, following a thousand-year history, continue to be at the service of the economy of the Po Valley and Central and Eastern Europe, even more so with the next upgrading of the Brenner Pass and the tunnels on the European corridor Adriatic-Baltic.

The first question to which, according to Venezia Port Community, the institutions, starting with the government, must give positive responses and implement the consequent necessary actions is that port accessibility, sediment management (sludge) and canal maintenance. The Committee has underlined the need for the maintenance excavation of all channels ports must return to being a regular activity and ordinary. In addition, VPC highlighted the need for ensure accessibility both in Marghera, through the adjustment (margining and adjustment) of the navigation channel port Malamocco-Marghera, which at the Maritime Station of Venice through the adaptation of the Vittorio Emanuele canal and in general with the adaptation of the four main evolution basins. Goes remembered - specified the committee - that the Vittorio Emanuele is the by-pass channel to the port, it is now as it is always been as long as it was kept in maintenance ordinary (with draft at -10.50 meters) and now more than ever - took over Venezia Port Community - it becomes fundamental because represents the only tool to bring back to life the Marittima and to ensure the full functionality of the port in the presence of the MoSE given the presence of only one basin for ships. Relatively at the first priority, the Committee shall also specify the need to finalize the Morphological Plan (PMLV) and the Sludge Protocol (PF) which must be made effective and operational immediately and, in the meantime, the possibility must be given to continue with the maintenance activities of the canals and basins with the existing instruments and strengthening the current Commissioner powers. Finally, according to VPC, you need to identify and put in function immediately areas suitable for the conferment of sediments to start from vallone Moranzani, an area born with this purpose but blocked by inertia deemed no longer acceptable.

For Venezia Port Community, it is also indispensable move towards a sustainable, compatible cruise model with commercial traffic and solutions outside the Lagoon. In particular, according to the committee, the cruise industry must continue to remain heritage of the territory where Venice plays a role strategic as a hub of cruises in the Adriatic to support the which the Maritime Station plays a pivotal role in maintaining the hub and home port role. In this regard, VPC denounced that the removal of larger passenger ships from San Marco and the subsequent transitional period envisaged by the government risk shifting the center of gravity of cruise hubs towards other foreign ports, such as Istanbul, with a radical change for all the ports of the upper Adriatic that would be to cover the role of pure transit airports. For the committee, on the other hand, the Venice Maritime Station will have to maintain its function port and logistics, for which the restoration of the Vittorio Emanuele canal, allowing in a logic of widespread port to complement the moorings in Marghera but without lose the strategic role of hub port and connection with the airport for passengers with all the activities to major added value related.

Referring then to the decree-law n. 45 of last year for the regulation of the traffic of passenger and cargo ships in the Lagoon of Venice, the Committee noted the urgency of defining the structure fully operational for cruises as well as that of containers. The Decree-Law 45 - noted VPC - dictated a political line but it does not seem to have solid and concrete foundations: you want to identify the two best solutions, but - explained the committee - there is no then deals with the theme of their realization and implementation, things which will take years to implement. In situations similar - the Committee also noted - the instruments used were different and with much more timing shipped: shipowners in both compartments must know which and the real outlook in their investment valuations on the port of Venice. We believe - underlined VPC - to have the same right of Genoa that with the dam project is looking at the next 50 years and more of the port and the city.

As for MOSE, the system of mobile dams to defend the Laguna, a system should be defined for the Committee specific regulations for the port system of Veneto that you realize a "regulated port" system, with Venice and Chioggia which will be the first "regulated" ports in Italy. The MOSE - noted VPC - must ensure the protection of the city of Venice but also the socio-economic one of an equally essential for both the local community and the system industrial of the country, for which its management (which will become responsibility of the constituent Authority of the Laguna) will have to reconcile these two interests intrinsically contrasting. According to VPC, this feature of "regulated" port, unique in Italy, must be sanctioned by a special rule that allows you to manage the particularities of the situation both in terms of management of the closures with a special control room representative of all institutions involved and taking into account the related needs economic activities, both in terms of operating rules, of work organization, tariffs and regulations that become necessarily specific and local. For Venezia Port Community, the management of MOSE closures must take place through a cabin of direction that includes all levels of government (Municipality, Province, Region and State) and taking into account the needs related to the economic activities. VPC finally asks to bring to level by law the provision contained in the administrative acts of approval of the MOSE for which it is also composed of the works that must ensure permanent access for ships to the port, including raised barriers (the so-called complementary works for the ports: basin and port outside the lagoon) and of which these they are an integral part.

The fourth priority listed by VPC is aimed at safeguarding the competitiveness of the port, which in the opinion of the committee should also be seen in the ground-side capacity of integrate and feed an intermodal distribution logistics efficient and sustainable. For VPCs, therefore, a better operation of rail services which must be 24/7 integrating railway maneuvers, customs services, Guard of Finance, operation of sorting stations, while river intermodality, especially towards the interports of Mantua and Cremona, must become an efficient channel equipped with appropriate incentives in analogy to what happens for Friuli for support with an eco-sustainable distribution the logistics of feeding of the steel and agri-food industry in import, supporting project cargo and plant engineering in export.

Fifth priority calls for certainty of the framework legislation on concessions and prospects, introducing clarity in the renewal and duration of concessions so as to allow port terminal operators prospects economically sustainable in relation to both investments necessary for the adaptation of infrastructure and digitalization of processes and towards greater uniformity application of the rules with respect to ports of reference such as Ravenna, Trieste and Genoa.