The Italian ports of Ravenna, Trieste and Venice and the Port of Koper in Slovenia have officially teamed up to form the North Adriatic Port Association (NAPA), following last year's decision to work more closely on achieving common goals.
With a particular focus on developing awareness of the Adriatic seaboard in Asian markets, the new alliance will seek to build new business worldwide by building the Upper Adriatic's reputation as a major transport and logistics centre.
'We need to view this association not from Venice or Trieste, but from Shanghai or Hong Kong,' said Claudio Boniciolli, president of the Giulian Port Authority, which is responsible for the Port of Trieste.
Collaboration between the four European ports is set to take the form of joint promotions at international level, although the Port of Venice's Paolo Costa was keen to point out that competition between Ravenna, Trieste, Venice and Koper would and should remain.
'In order to convince (ship) owners to come up the Adriatic, we need to increase in size and have the critical mass necessary to be taken in consideration,' he said.
Gregor Veselko, president of the Port of Koper and also the inaugural president of NAPA, underlined the ports' need to work together.
'Our primary interest is be obtain as many goods as possible for the Upper Adriatic, and we can only do that together,' he commented. 'The objective is to be recognised on the international market, but this does not rule out competition.'
Joined by the Port of Ravenna's operations director Guido Ceroni, Messrs Boniciolli, Costa and Veselko said they also hoped the Port of Rijeka, near Zagreb, would join the association once Croatia became a member of the European Union.
This year, NAPA plans to undertake a major promotional campaign in order to raise awarenss of the association among trade organisations, governments and companies.
This will include presenting a united front at Transport Logistic China, a major transport fair due to take place in Shanghai on 8-10 June 2010.
