TRIESTE – The port of Ravenna is strengthening its bid to become one of the main European reference points for the handling of rare earths and critical raw materials.
The bid, shared with Porto Marghera, has secured the support of the Ferrara Ravenna Chamber of Commerce. It was relaunched by its president, Giorgio Guberti, commenting on the proposal put forward by Francesco Benevolo, president of the Port System Authority of the Central-Northern Adriatic Sea, during the Deportibus event.
According to Guberti, the project represents a major opportunity for the local area and for the country as a whole, allowing the port of Ravenna to take on a strategic role in the sourcing, storage, processing and recycling of raw materials essential for the technologies of the future. Venice-Marghera would flank the Ravenna port within an integrated Northern Adriatic supply chain. Rare earths and critical metals are essential for sectors such as electronics, energy, defence, aerospace, transport, artificial intelligence and robotics. The availability of these resources is considered decisive for reducing Europe’s dependence on foreign suppliers, particularly China, and for strengthening the continent’s industrial competitiveness.
Among the strengths of the bid, Ravenna can count on established industrial expertise, logistics areas already available near the port and efficient links with road and rail networks. A further element of attractiveness is the Simplified Logistics Zone, which offers incentives and accelerated procedures for new investments.
The initiative is part of the framework of the Critical Raw Materials Act, the strategy through which the European Union aims to achieve greater autonomy in the supply of critical raw materials. By 2030, Brussels aims to meet at least 10% of demand internally through extraction, 40% through processing and 15% through recycling, while also limiting dependence on any single third country to no more than 65% of consumption for each strategic raw material.
