21 October 2022 - On a return visit to the Ports of Genoa and Savona-Vado Ligure after 4 years, the European Coordinator for the Rhine-Alpine core network corridor, Pawel Wojciechowski was invited to inspect the infrastructure construction sites underway, central to the investment programme designed to relaunch inland connections between Liguria and Central Southern Europe.
The Port Day kicked off with an on-site visit to the new semi-automated Vado Gateway Terminal which opened at the beginning of 2020. Coordinator Wojciechowski, together with his advisor Beata Tuszyńska (DG Move), focused upon the technologically advanced intermodal services provided by the terminal operator APM which already, to date, boasts an impressive 40% rail ratio. The Port of Genoa-Sampierdarena was at the centre of the second site inspection, with specific attention paid to the last mile rail infrastructure works in progress, including the expansion of the Rugna-Campasso rail yard.
The range of major rail infrastructure works underway, together with the forthcoming construction of the new breakwater to upgrade accessibility by sea to Genoa, are an integral part of the overall transport policies of the EU within the completion of the TEN-T Rhine-Alpine Corridor, Europe’s leading multimodal corridor in terms of GNP and population size, with Genoa indicated as the southern port of call of the corridor and as maritime gateway to this vibrant European catchment area.
The European Coordinator’s full schedule finished off with a meeting at the Port Authority historic headquarters of Palazzo San Giorgio, hosted by the Port President Paolo Emilio Signorini flanked by the local authorities and stakeholders, which spotlighted the 3-billion euro Ports of Genoa investment programme underway, a major step in establishing the greater intermodal integration of the Ligurian port within the trans-European Rhine-Alpine corridor across the Terzo Valico (Third Railway Line across the Apennines).
