This short report – edited by Confitarma – describes the situation of the world and Italian maritime shipping in 2015. The analysis pays attention to the seaborne trade, the shipping and maritime markets.

Container ships have grown bigger at a rapid pace over the last decades, faster than any other ship type. In one decade, the average capacity of a container ship has doubled. The largest container ship at this moment can carry 19,200 TEU, but ships with capacity of more than 21,000 TEUs have been ordered and will be operational in 2017. This development raises important questions: what are the impacts to the whole transport chain – and are these impacts still positive? Larger container ships have generated cost savings for carriers, decreased maritime transport costs and as such facilitated global trade in the past. However, larger ships require adaptations of infrastructure, equipment and cause larger peaks in container traffic in ports, which have increased the total transport costs. The OECD/ITF just released a report, entitled “The Impact of Mega-Ships” that attempts to answer these questions. It assesses if the benefits of the current mega container ships still outweigh their costs to the whole transport chain. This article gives highlights from the report.

The report (English and Italian version) can be downloaded for free.

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This short report shows the state of advancement of the “Legge Obiettivo” (Target Law), a law conceived to speed up bureaucratic and administrative procedures, kick starting the construction sites of major infrastructures in Italy. The report explains that there’s a low level of completion of the plan, due in all likeliness to the major procedural complexities at play in our country. The second consideration relates to the modest functioning of the “Legge Obiettivo” on the administrative front. Lastly – a necessary observation – the tendency is to continue focusing in particular on road and rail works. While these are important, the question to ask, at this point, is whether Italy intends to afford ports and interport logistics platforms strategic dignity or not.

The report (English and Italian version) may be purchased from this website in digital version, at a discounted price.

Speech by Michele Acciaro from Kühne Logistics University (KLU) of Hamburg given at the conference organized by Federagenti on 16th December 2015 in Rome: “The Giants’ limit: how long will the size of container ships continue to grow? For Italy a market of opportunities and variables is taking shape and this will dictate radical logistics choices”.

The Report (Italian and English version) can be download for free.

This short report – edited by Confitarma – describes the situation of the  international and European maritime shipping in 2014. The analysis pays attention to the world fleet, the shipping and maritime markets; besides, it focus on the economic value of European maritime industry.

The Report (Italian and English version) can be download for free.

In the attempt to capture the emissions of the total transport chain, the reduction of carbon footprint in ports and at terminals was the principal goal of the EU-funded project “Green and effective operations at terminals and in ports (GREEN EFFORTS)” concluded in June 2014. As the carbon footprint is directly related to energy-efficiency, which is easier to sell to the industry, this was advanced into the project focus. The project results are briefly described referring to yard lighting, standby consumption of ship-to-shore cranes, energy management, yard operation and standardization. Particulate matter emission as a serious threat to human health is not a contributor to the carbon footprint but has been included to advocate a combined approach to reduce all industrial emissions and to improve air quality.

The report was carried out by Jens Froese,
Jacobs University Bremen, Head of Workgroup Maritime Logistics.

The English version can be downloaded for free.
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With this short report begins the process of investigating the ports of the countries in competition with Italy. The first country analysed within this process is Germany, which given its geographical features and export vocation, attaches strategic value to logistics and to the maritime trading of goods, as confirmed by the World Bank, which ranks Germany second in the world for logistics competitiveness, just behind Singapore.The results achieved are the fruit of the major efforts made by Germany over the years to support the development of the sector, also through the construction of the port of Hamburg and of the Frankfurt airport, which have made the country the most important logistics hub in Europe.

The report (English and Italian version) may be purchased from this website in digital version, at a discounted price.

This short report – edited by Federpesca – describes the fisheries sector in Europe and in the Mediterranean. The analysis pays attention to the Italian market and focus on the capture and aquaculture production.

The Report (Italian and English version) can be download for free.