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During these difficult months, port activity has continued working to help support the Italian economy, keeping essential routes for international trade open and active. Salerno Container Terminal has stayed fully operational and, despite obvious concerns, this period has become an opportunity to reflect and to make important decisions. We have plans involving new investments, the creation of new jobs, and new strategies. We have realised that our activities in Salerno Port have grown over the last year, with 7% growth for the first trimester and 10% growth for April. The emergency has stimulated the production and trade of canned food and pasta products (living essentials). Salerno Port has an advantage, being traditionally dedicated to export and being at the centre of a vast food manufacturing and agriculture district, largely located in the province of Salerno itself.
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| A NEW MAXI-CRANE |
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In recent days Salerno Container Terminal has laid down additional pieces of an ambitious long-term investment plan, €20 million of which was already invested in the last year. A contract has been signed with German manufacturer Liebherr for the supply of a further giant crane for containers (valued at about €6 million), able to work on 15.000 TEU vessels, to be delivered this coming September. This will bring the number of Liebherr maxi cranes in operation at the terminal to four, and the number of available cranes to seven, in line with expected traffic linked to ongoing dredging work, the first phase of which, completed in March, has already increased water depth to 13.50m, with a planned final depth of 15m by December 2020.
 Before the end of the year, Salerno Container Terminal will also invest in the creation of a new polyfunctional structure for goods inspection. The aim is to improve services linked to sanitation and customs checks of food, animal feed and other products deriving from animals and plants. Favourable opinions have already been obtained from the authorities, and paperwork for the concession of public land has been completed successfully.
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| TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION |
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In the field of technological innovation, we have planned actions in the short, medium and long term. We consider this to be a valuable factor in economic progress, with long-term benefits to business sustainability and the quality of our work.
Despite the complexities of this current crisis, we largely upgraded the control room of Salerno Container Terminal, the nerve centre for planning, management and operational control. This upgrade permits a more advanced and efficient remote control function, integrating existing IT and management software with widespread video coverage of the area and radio connections between all operatives. The new system allows the optimisation of operational cycles and yard management, transferring work traditionally occurring on the quays to the control room and thus improving safety.
In connection with the new telematic functions, we have begun work on the creation of four automatic gates for truck entry to be operational by next year (2021). This will optimise the use of space and drastically reduce waiting times for access and goods handling.
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| ZERO EMISSIONS |
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We have done more than that in this period. With the aim of powering the port electrically within the next few years, we have, with German manufacturer Liebherr, done the groundwork for a zero-emissions terminal, with an eye to planning new machinery and completely abolishing the use of internal combustion engines. Salerno Container Terminal will add its experience to the working group planning to bring a new generation of zero environmental impact terminal to Salerno within the next five years. This is of great importance, ethical and otherwise, for the company and its shareholders.
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| EMPLOYMENT CREATION |
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Increased traffic, investments and innovation would make little sense, however, if they did not lead to further employment. In recent days we have hired a first group of eight young people in a sign of optimism and trust during the Covid-19 crisis which has so gravely impacted the nation.
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| THE FUTURE OF SALERNO PORT |
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Without doubt, Salerno can guarantee free and neutral access to the Centre and South of Italy for various maritime liner carriers and will continue to provide competitive value for industry and commerce by ensuring goods are efficiently connected with the global market.
In a period of multilateral globalisation, during which trade is balanced between import and export from and to various parts of the world, ports are no longer the endpoint in a bilateral process, but an economic route-centre.
With this potential and competitive conditions in mind, Salerno Container Terminal has planned its business strategy on three key factors: development of production capacity and technology, employment growth and safety, care for the environment. We feel that these factors allow the elaboration of a nationwide vision, with an eye to renewed internationalisation of the Italian economy.
May 2020
Agostino Gallozzi
Chairman & MD
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