Italy's La Spezia port ready to handle mega-ships
LA Spezia Container Terminal (LSCT), one of the largest container ports in Italy, has a median handling capacity of 1.4 million TEU and can comfortably accommodate ships of up to 16,600 TEU thanks to numerous investments to boost capacity and productivity.
The Contship Italia-owned container terminal is strategically situated in the north of Italy in close proximity to Milan, the Veneto manufacturing area and the Emilia-Romagna region.
Traffic at the port was up 7.1 per cent to 1.09 million TEU in 2014 compared to 2013, according to statistics from Eurokai, a major investor in the terminal. The port this year hit its 1 millionth TEU in November, a month earlier than it has since 2007, IHS Media reported.
Terminal expansion at LSCT began in 2006 and about US$265 million has been invested since then in expanding capacity, including upgrading or replacing 11 quay cranes and completing civil work such as channel deepening to enable access for larger vessels.
The fully privatised LSCT works in close cooperation with government authorities. More berths will be widened in 2016, yard capacity and quay cranes added, and rail capacity increased with a new on-dock rail station.
"This will allow us to operate 600-metre (2,000 feet) trains for a total bespoke rail capacity of 900,000 TEU, enabling fully 50 per cent of import/export flow via La Spezia's rail network for the fastest end-to-end service for Asia-Italy and Italy-Asia cargo," Contship Italia's marketing and communications director, Daniele Testi said.
The long-term plan is for the port to handle 2 million TEU per year, Mr Testi said, although no timeline is in place for this expansion, which would be subject to market conditions and customer demand.
Contship Italia operates 200 trains per week in a 24/7 train service that hauls cargo from LSCT into southern Europe's hinterland, including Switzerland and southern Germany.
"Contship Italia considers itself in part to be a supply chain management company," said commercial director of Contship Itali, Michael Cashman. In addition to ports, the group manages rail transport, trucks, land transport hubs, customs, and warehousing, as well as offering full-service transport in northern Italy and southern Europe.
"La Spezia is very suitable for accessing the north of ltaly, the industrial areas in Switzerland, and the south of Germany up to Munich," said Mr Cashman.
Despite the considerable market reach, president of Contship Italia group, Cecilia Eckelmann Battistello, was keen to point out that the terminal is not planning to make itself an alternative to big northern European ports such as Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and Antwerp.
"La Spezia cannot replace the northern gateway ports like the ARA," she acknowledged. "It is for Italian cargo via Italian ports."