Italian ports: towards a new governance?

Abstract

The adoption in 1994 of the law n. 84 introducing the landlord port model marked the starting point of a prime period for the Italian port industry. It contributed to the national port industry renaissance: Italian ports became again the leaders in the Mediterranean basin, both as gateway ports and as transhipment ports. Looking back to its 15 years of enforcement, critical aspects and weaknesses have been observed. The incentive to reflect on the governance structure of ports and on the changes affecting the whole logistics transport chain is driven by the relative and absolute loss of position of Italian ports with respect to their competitors of the North as well as of the South European range (and the ports of Northern Africa which are expected to compete fiercely in the coming future). Considering only the container traffic, from 2003 to 2008 the market share of Italian ports decreased from 20.7% to 15.7% in favor of its main European competitors. The loss of attractiveness of Italian harbors is a clear symptom of the several difficulties national ports face in dealing with the rapid changes affecting the port industry. This paper discusses the bill presented by the Italian Government concerning the ports governance reform.