TRIESTE – The ports of Trieste and Monfalcone are aiming to carve out a central role in Europe’s future critical raw materials supply chains, leveraging their port infrastructure, logistics and research system.
The strategy was presented by the president of the Port Network Authority of the Eastern Adriatic Sea, Marco Consalvo, during a meeting at the Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy with minister Adolfo Urso and regional councillor Fabio Scoccimarro.
During the meeting, Consalvo highlighted the characteristics that make the Trieste and Monfalcone port system particularly suited to the storage, handling and initial processing of strategic materials. Among the elements indicated were natural depths of up to 18 metres, the International Free Port regime and a rail network directly linking the ports to the main industrial markets of Central and Eastern Europe.
A further competitive advantage concerns the Free Port itself, which allows goods to be managed under favourable customs and tax conditions, facilitating logistics and industrial operations linked to the future critical raw materials supply chains.
The infrastructure component is complemented by the scientific one. Consalvo also underlined the presence in the area of one of Europe’s most developed research ecosystems, with institutions such as ICTP, SISSA, Elettra Sincrotrone, Area Science Park and the University of Trieste. This asset could support not only logistics, but also materials research, certification activities and the technological development of new industrial supply chains.
According to the president of the Port Authority, Trieste has the characteristics needed to play a leading role in future European strategies for critical raw materials, thanks to its consolidated international vocation and a geographical position that connects it directly to the main continental markets. The aim, Consalvo stressed, is to strengthen the integration between the port, universities, research centres and businesses, transforming the area’s logistics vocation into new industrial opportunities in support of Italian and European competitiveness.
