Overview
The demand for container handling in the ports of the Mediterranean was estimated to rise, before the crisis, from about 34 million to about 60 million containers between 2006 and 2015; while, considering the crisis, it was estimated to rise to about 46 million.
On the supply side, the phenomenon of “naval gigantism” needs ports to be deep enough to host the ships. Italian container ports are currently equipped with 13 meters deep sea bottom, while container ships with greater capacity require depth of at least 16 meters.
These two considerations make evidence that actual (according to plans) consolidation and integration of infrastructure supply of Italian container ports (together with their inclusion in the Trans-European (TEN-T) and Euro-Mediterranean Networks) appear to be scarce.
The aim of the project is the definition of guidelines for the competitiveness of the three Italian container hub ports of Gioia Tauro, Taranto and Cagliari and of the Italian container ports in the euro-Mediterranean system.
The project is divided in five phases:
Phase I: Construction of a supply and demand database for maritime and land services and connections related to Italian and Euro-Mediterranean container ports.
Phase II: Definition of forecasting methodologies for demand flows entering main Euro-Mediterranean hub ports.
Phase III: Identification of forecasting methodologies for demand flows and their characteristics exiting the three Italian hub ports of Gioia Tauro, Taranto and Cagliari.
Phase IV: Definition of a set of performance indicators about supply characteristics (infrastructures and services) of the three Italian hub ports of Gioia Tauro, Taranto and Cagliari.
Phase V: Assessment of strengths and weaknesses of the Italian hub ports of Gioia Tauro, Taranto and Cagliari, checking their level of competitiveness in comparison to the other Euro-Mediterranean ports.
Funding
Results
Models and methodologies for the analysis of demand flows and supply performance indicators for Italian hub ports in the Euro-Mediterranean system have been developed and results transposed into a book published by FrancoAngeli (see the attached file).