President Signorini, guest speaker at Transport Logistic China 2018 in Shanghai: “Smarter Talks on Smarter Ports” and "The Mediterranean Sea: where Asia, Africa and Europe meet along the Maritime Silk Road”.
The trade mission to China from 16 to 18 May was led by the President of the Ports of Genoa, Paolo E. Signorini, who was invited to speak at the international conference forum "Smarter Talks on Smarter Ports", and at the "The Mediterranean Sea: where Asia, Africa and Europe meet along the Maritime Silk Road” hosted by the Intermed Gateway Ports.
The first event featured amongst the many highlights of the comprehensive conference programme, which ran alongside the 3-day exhibition, and focused on how innovation can improve substantially overall port performance and cut across the diverse environmental and cargo handling efficiency requirements. Together with Lars Anke, Port of Hamburg Liaison Office China Chief Representative, and Borislav Abdishev, Head of Business Development of T-Systems P.R. china Ltd., Signorini discussed the impact of the fast-changing IT scenario, including the repercussions of digitalisation and blockchain technology, on the shipping industry, underlining the importance of setting up trial projects involving all the stakeholders involved in the supply chain and of introducing a quality standard certification system, based upon stringent performance benchmarks, across the full range of port services.
The forum hosted by Intermed, which groups together the gateway ports of Genoa, Marseilles and Barcelona, was dedicated to the strategic role of the Mediterranean at the heart of the future Chinese development programmes. The event provided the panel members with a platform to showcase the potential of the northern Mediterranean ports as first European port of call range along the new Maritime Silk Road.
Paolo Signorini, currently also President of Intermed Gateways Ports, delivered the opening speech, with an outline of facts and figures of the newly established Western Ligurian Sea Port Authority. To date, the Ports of Genoa handle 30% of total maritime traffic between Italy and China, an annual volume of approximately 25 million tonnes which is set to increase thanks to the extensive liner service network connecting Genoa to the Far East and the Mediterranean countries. In addition, with the near-completion of the Rhine-Alpine Corridor, Genoa is poised to consolidate its leadership as Mediterranean gateway to the major industrial and consumer markets of Southern Europe.
