Port of Taranto, agreement to participate in the development of the Valbasento Interport in Ferrandina

For its development, the port of Taranto aims
on intermodality, and in this context on Saturday the Authority
of the Port System of the Ionian Sea has signed a memorandum of understanding
with the Basilicata Region, Confindustria Basilicata, the Municipality of
Ferradina and the Consortium for Industrial Development of the Province of
Matera for the enhancement of the Valbasento Interport of
Ferrandina (Matera) as a strategic center in the logistics network
and in connections at the service of the production system
Lucanian Basilica. The signature was affixed in Matera on the occasion of
of the event On the routes of development. Infrastructure, Transport and
Logistics for a more competitive Basilicata” promoted
by Confindustria Basilicata.

The agreement aims to build an integrated port logistics system
of Taranto-Ferrandina, in which Taranto represents the gateway
maritime and Ferrandina the inland platform for consolidation,
the processing and distribution of goods. Among the priorities
indicated, the completion of the railway connection of the area
industrial network of Ferrandina to the RFI network. This is an intervention
considered enabling for the entire project and subject to a
FSC financial programming which aims to reach 19 million
of euros, through the completion of the reprogramming
of the Cohesion Agreement.

The protocol also provides, within 180 days, for the processing of
of a Ferrandina-Taranto logistic-functional masterplan,
accompanied by an Investment Dossier and a demand survey
business logistics. In this path Confindustria Basilicata
will have a direct role in the connection with the production system,
helping to identify the logistical needs of companies,
define the services of the Interport and promote the project at the
operators and investors. The objectives of the agreement include
also the inclusion of the Interporto in the programming of the SEZ
Unique, the perspective of the Customs Free Zone, the path of
Recognition of the infrastructure by the Ministry of Economy and Finance.
Infrastructure and Transport and the construction of a strategy
to intercept national and European resources.

On the occasion of the signing, the president of Confindustria
Basilicata, Francesco D’Alema, explained that the goal is
transform Ferrandina into a real logistics hub at the service of
production chains in Lucania and the South, integrated with the port
of Taranto. Now – he specified – it is necessary to proceed
quickly, starting from the completion of the connection
railway sector, from the definition of the masterplan and the PET tender”.
“Basilicata – added the vice-president of
Confindustria Basilicata, Leopoldo Destro – has a position
between the Tyrrhenian, Ionian and Adriatic Seas. But it must be made
increasingly accessible, a true hinge of the South: strengthening
the connections of Melfi, Potenza, Matera and Metapontino with the large
national and European guidelines, strengthening the Salerno-Potenza axis
Bari, developing intermodality and integration between
infrastructure and SEZ Unica, focus on the Ferrandina freight village.
Basilicata has important production capacities. We must
transform them into stable competitiveness”.

“The signing of the protocol – said the administrator
of the Consortium for the Industrial Development of the Province of
Matera, Antonio Di Sanza – confirms the wishes of the subjects
public involved to give substance to the project, strengthening the
attractiveness that it must have to attract the
interests of private investors. The control room and the table
permanent technical will allow constant monitoring
on the initiative, guaranteeing certain times and the coordination of each
functional action for the actual start of this important
strategic work”.

For its part, the Port System Authority of the Sea
Ionio believes that, in the context of the diversification of trade
which represents a strategic guideline of the Operational Plan
Three-year period 2026-2028 of the port of Taranto, the freight village and the junction
with the Taranto port system can build a real
logistics-production platform, connecting the areas
Lucanian industrial areas with the port and with the main routes of the
Mediterranean, with the railway called to become a factor of
Competitiveness of the port thanks to a hinge function
between the production system of the South and the Mediterranean.

The port authority includes the Lucanian freight village in its
strategy to relaunch the activity of the port of Taranto which
in recent decades has been hit by the crisis of the
Ilva steel plant and the collapse of the traffic of
container with the abandonment of the port by the Taiwanese group
Evergreen. “Today for Taranto – said the president
of the Port System Authority of the Ionian Sea, Giovanni
Gugliotti – talking about goods and traffic seems almost risky. But
We must invest in the future starting from a position
strategic strategy and seizing opportunities that are not
can be lost”. Gugliotti underlined that, in
From this point of view, the agreement for the Interport “is coloured with a
Particular significance: investing in efficiency today for
rebuilding a port, industrial and commercial tomorrow
strategic”. “The Port Authority – explained Gugliotti – must
being an active subject in the construction of connections,
working together with Regions, local authorities, RFIs, logistics operators and
production system to create concrete conditions for transfer
of goods from road to rail and integration with the
port. This is to move from the logic of the “port that
receives traffic” to that of the “port that builds
traffic”. This means working on the hinterland,
intercept new production basins, accompany companies in the
choice of logistics methods and build services
competitive railways. For us, intermodality – he concluded
– it is not simply a matter of transport: it is
industrial policy. If we want to diversify the traffic of the
port of Taranto, we must at the same time expand its
hinterland, strengthening rail links and building
stable connections with the production areas of the hinterland.
Ferrandina can represent, in this sense, a piece
important network in which the port, rail, logistics and
industry cease to be separate infrastructures and become a
development system”.