TRIESTE – A constant presence in the port world in Trieste and, in recent years, also on the national stage as vice president of Federagenti: Paolo Spada, 70, a long-time manager at the Samer Group, died yesterday.
He joined the Group when he was just over twenty, rose through the ranks and, until his death, sat on the board of Samer & Co. Shipping, where he also served as Chief Operating Officer. Paolo Spada was also national vice president of Federagenti, the association representing maritime agents, after being appointed head of the regional chapter, first in 2020 and then again in 2022.
A deep connoisseur of the local economic fabric and port dynamics, Spada had been part of the Samer Group since 1976. Over the years he held several management roles within the Trieste-based company, building extensive maritime expertise and coordinating and managing Samer & Co. Shipping’s operations as shipping agent for some of the world’s leading shipping lines.
«A constant good mood, a positive approach to life and a handshake that could make your bones crack. Not even an illness that had been consuming him for five years, and that he had chosen to keep secret, managed to dent these, in some ways unique, traits», Federagenti wrote about him today.
«Rightly considered one of Italy’s brightest maritime agents, he has passed away, or rather — as his friends prefer to say — he quietly fell asleep». «It is hard for me — said Paolo Pessina, Federagenti president — to use words of circumstance, except to say that he leaves an unfillable void across the entire Italian maritime community».
«I had the honour and privilege of working with Paolo to increase traffic at the port of Trieste, representing the private companies operating there. I hope I can treasure his professional and human teachings». With these words, Stefano Visintin, president of Confetra Fvg, wanted to remember his friend.
