TRIESTE – Venice is testing the direct transfer of luggage between airport and cruise ships, while Pula, Croatia, is investing in electric mobility. These are the two most significant pilot projects presented at the Adriatic Sea Forum in Venice as part of CROSS-CONNECT, an initiative funded by the Italy-Croatia Interreg Programme 2021-2027 to improve integration between maritime, air and urban transport in the Adriatic area.
The project involves the ports of Venice, Bari-Brindisi, Pula and Dubrovnik, the airports of Venice and Dubrovnik and the public transport companies of Bari-Brindisi and Pula. During the meeting, the strategic roadmap defining future intermodal connections between the ports and their surrounding areas was presented. The partners also signed a Memorandum of Understanding to continue cooperation after the experimental phase has ended.
The most advanced project concerns Venice, where the Port System Authority of the Northern Adriatic Sea and SAVE have developed the Fly & Cruise system, designed to integrate air travel with cruise travel. The service allows passengers to check in their luggage directly at the airport and find it on board the ship or, on the return journey, hand it over at the cruise terminal and collect it at the destination airport. The aim is to eliminate double luggage handling operations and make transfers between different modes of transport smoother.
The test carried out in April at the Venice-Fusina terminal in Porto Marghera was successful and the model could be replicated at other ports.
Pula also represents one of the project’s most significant cases. The Regional Port Authority and public transport company Pulapromet have developed a plan to improve connections between the port, the bus station, the railway, the city centre and the hospital, with the aim of reducing CO₂ emissions.
