Genoa, GMT needs more space

Genoa - “We invest €100 million every year; we could easily direct part of that investment to Genoa. However, it feels that, here in our hometown, people find us annoying. The more jobs we create, the more uncomfortable it gets”. Andrea Bartalini is the CEO of Genoa Metal Terminal, a cargo transportation company that holds a concession at the Ponte Eritrea in the port of Genoa. But GMT is also one of the (few) shareholders of the Dutch giant, Steinweg, which owns 100% of Rotterdam GMT. Steinweg has ninety nine offices in 37 countries and five thousand employees. Steinweg-Gmt has 150 employees in Genoa who manage the local terminal and activities in the Mediterranean basin. Very few know of the existence of these headquarters in the city ‘because that is how we are: few words and lots of work. This policy evidently does not pay off”.

Bartalini explains the reason: “Let me just start by saying this: in these last few years, we have not had any layoffs and we have not needed to use redundancy payments. We do not have any debts: we work with our own capital, maybe the banks don’t like this fact. In 2014, we will end the year with a traffic increase of 38-40%, more than 400,000 tonnes and 180 ships. We have 40 workers at the piers and we employ an additional 30 from the Compagnia Unica every day, on average. In summary, the port should not complain about us”. So what’s the problem? “Instead, every now and then an employee comes by to ask me: why do they block our efforts? And I do not know what to say, because this city can be really weird. For example, let’s talk about the issue of space. Today we are utilizing the full capacity of both our terminal and CSM, which is co-managed with Autamarocchi as well as the old general storage facility of Rivarolo. Just think, we have asked for more space at three other terminals: Bulk, San Giorgio and Messina. Messina responded and we went there to unload 15,000 tonnes of aluminum. And it is not over: from now until the end of the year, we have forecast the arrival of an additional 15 ships, carrying over a thousand containers. It is evident we need more space”.

Have you asked for it? “For sure, we wanted the Idroscalo areas, but then they were given to Spinelli. We made a more modest request for a small area of 4,000 square metres, with a guarantee of €10 million in investment: They didn’t even answer our request. And some accuse us of needing too much storage, but they omit two details. First, out of the 80,000 metres of the concession, 40,000 are storage areas: working with different types of goods is not the same as working with containers. We transport anything from yachts to minerals, from steel to heavy equipment, with the highest qualitative standards. Piling up containers is definitely easier...” But shortage of space is not the only issue at the Genoa Metal Terminal. The rules governing the port have made coexistence in Genoa increasingly difficult. “Things are happening that we do not like,” Bartalini admits.

“The first one is the western side of our quay: the port authority decided to install two service tubes at the border area of Sampierdarena Olii, thus compromising the operations in our terminal. Furthermore, the works were assigned through contracts without even consulting with us. The second dangerous operation, so to speak, was suggested by Industries Rebora (Aldo Spinelli, ed.), who asked to “cut” a part of our eastern quay to allow access to a larger ship. Now, we understand the needs of other players, but we demand that ours are respected too. In a few words, this is what we ask of the Port Authority. If we feel marginalized? Let me answer with an example. Ten years ago we had two tracks available, now we only have one, which is mostly used by our “neighbour”. How come the Port Authority of a top Italian port fails to complete such a modest work? “