Search

The impact of ports on urban areas' decarbonization to reduce air and environmental pollution effects to achieve sustainable development is undeniable, especially in the marine transportation sector. In this case, applied studies that can contribute to existing knowledge on increasing ports' energy self-sufficiency using renewable energy sources (RESs) are critical and necessary. In this study, firstly, (1) the RESs assessment prioritization methodology was designed for Lazio ports. Additionally, (2) long-term solar radiation and wind speed were analyzed using the Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications, Version 2 (MERRA-2) dataset of Lazio ports. Furthermore, (3) the time-series, normal-distribution and correlation methods were applied to the generated energy source, based on various parameters of the RESs used in the ports. Finally, (4) Italian port areas, towards renewable energy community (REC) scenarios, were analyzed and developed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, an analysis of deep sea shipping (DSS) container services, calling at Italian ports, is carried out. A comparison with analogous sets of data collected in the years 2011 and 2014 has been performed. The most important Italian port system is the Ligurian one, which includes the main Italian port, Genoa, which is the main access gate to the Padan Plain, the most productive area of Italy. However, other ports are also important: the Ligurian port of La Spezia and the hub port of Gioia Tauro. The comparison, with 2011 and 2014 data, has shown that while the number of DSS departures, from Italian ports, did not increase, the dimensions of the ships, which call at Italian ports, increased relevantly: this is in line with the current trend in container ship gigantism.

In this paper, an analysis of the development of Deep Sea Shipping (DSS) and Short Sea Shipping (SSS) container routes calling at Italian ports, is carried out. Data about DSS routes have been collected in the years: 2011, 2014, 2018 and 2019, while data about SSS services have been collected in 2010 and 2018. Italian ports have been classified as follows: Ligurian multi-port gateway cluster, formed by Leghorn, La Spezia, Genoa, Savona/Vado Ligure; Northern Adriatic multi-port gateway cluster, made up of Ancona, Ravenna, Venice and Trieste; Campanian multi-port gateway cluster, composed of Naples and Salerno; hub ports, i.e. Gioia Tauro, Cagliari (only until 2018) and Taranto (only until 2014). The most important gateway cluster, for both DSS and SSS services, is the Ligurian one, which includes Genoa, the major Italian container gateway port. Genoa has shown an almost constant increase in container traffic in the time period analyzed. Italian hub ports are also an important group, but they have registered a negative trend in the years under analysis. DSS routes, to Far East and the American Continent, usually call at the Ligurian ports and the hub port of Gioia Tauro. Northern Adriatic ports are crossed by only a few DSS routes, but they are crossed by a large number of SSS routes, especially feeder ones, with transshipment mainly in the hub ports of Gioia Tauro, Marsaxlokk, Piraeus and Port Said. The evolution of DSS services shows clearly the effects of naval gigantism phenomenon: the number of DSS services has decreased, but the total and, especially, the average DWT have increased. As regards SSS routes, also their frequencies have decreased, but their length and, in particular, the number of ports called, have increased: this choice is performed by container operators in order to increase the ships ’load factor’. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, an analysis of deep sea shipping (DSS) container services, calling at Italian ports, is carried out. A comparison with analogous sets of data collected in the years 2011 and 2014 has been performed. The most important Italian port system is the Ligurian one, which includes the main Italian port, Genoa, which is the main access gate to the Padan Plain, the most productive area of Italy. However, other ports are also important: the Ligurian port of La Spezia and the hub port of Gioia Tauro. The comparison, with 2011 and 2014 data, has shown that while the number of DSS departures, from Italian ports, did not increase, the dimensions of the ships, which call at Italian ports, increased relevantly: this is in line with the current trend in container ship gigantism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1861 navigation was a vital economic and also a strategical resource of the newly-unified Italy. The Italian contemporary maritime historiography is very wide; nevertheless, the question of ports, considered as a whole, and in particular the issue of ports policy throughout the Liberal Age, have been completely neglected. With regard to the latter, given the lack of updated studies, the strongly negative interpretation expressed in the 1920s by the economist Epicarmo Corbino still remains the only starting point for a critical analysis. An extensive use, in addition to other sources, of the results of the international maritime historiography allows framing both issues within broader coordinates and better assess the specifics. The essay, after mentioning the impact of steam navigation in the framework of the first globalization, focuses on the condition of Italian ports from Unification to the eve of the Great War, also in comparison with that of other Euro-Mediterranean maritime countries. Thereafter, always with comparative references, the Author discusses the subsequent stages of the ports policy, proposing a reappraise of its criteria and effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the existing rules commonly used for port traffic comparison are described. These rules provide weighting factors for each freight category in order to make them comparable and exploitable for port ranking. These rules are based on the value added concept related to port activities. Two new rules are proposed. The first is again based on the value added concept. The second rule is based on the assumption that ports not only create labour directly, through activities related to port operations, but they also play the role of “gates” for the existing economic activities of a region or a country, as a consistent quota of the overall international trade takes place by sea. This rule is based on the relationship among the trend of traffic volume of each freight category and the trend of the national GDP. The rules existing in the literature and the proposed new rules have been applied in ranking Italian ports; the results are discussed. The sensitivity of the ranking of Italian ports, to the different weighting rules, has been analysed.

The pleated ascidian Styela plicata (Lesueur, 1823) is a solitary species commonly found in ports and marinas around the world. It has been recorded in the Mediterranean region since the mid-19th century. In the present work, the species' genetic diversity was analysed, employing a 613-bp portion of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I ( COI) gene from 149 individuals collected in 14 ports along Italian coasts at spatial scales ranging from 1 to approximately 2200 km. Haplotype and nucleotide diversity values were h = 0-0.933 (total h = 0.789) and π = 0-0.145 (total π = 0.0094), respectively. A general southward trend of increasing within-population genetic diversity was observed. Analysis of molecular variance revealed significant genetic structuring but no significant differences were detected among basins, and no isolation by distance was found. Our data were integrated with the COI sequences available from previous studies and re-analysed in order to investigate the possible routes of introduction of this ascidian into the Mediterranean Sea. The presence of the two COI haplogroups detected in previous molecular investigations on S. plicata at intercontinental spatial scale was confirmed in the Mediterranean Sea. The results revealed multiple introductions of S. plicata, although some locations appear to have experienced rapid expansion from few founding individuals with reduced genetic diversity. However, continuous introductions would confound the pattern deriving from single founder events and make it difficult to estimate the time needed for gene diffusion into established populations. This mixing of effects creates difficulties in understanding the past and current dynamics of this introduction, and managing this alien invasive ascidian whose genetic structure is continuously shuffled by vessel-mediated transport. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An "island formation" is a region within the hinterland of a port which is served by another port. Some regions of southern Europe, although located within the hinterland of some Mediterranean ports, are "island formations" of northern range ports (namely, northern European ports between Le Havre and Hamburg): an example is the Padan Plain, in northern Italy, which is currently, although only partially, an "island formation" of northern range ports. Actually, a relevant number of TEUs, which have origin or destination in the Padan Plain, and have been unloaded from ships operating deep-sea routes or will be loaded on them, cross northern range ports. Several sources report this number of TEUs, but there is disagreement among them. In this paper, firstly, this number of TEUs is estimated, according to scheduled rail connections between northern range ports and Italian intermodal centres/freight villages. Afterwards, an analysis of transport costs and travel times is carried out in order to determine the advantage of unloading containers (having origin in the Far East or North America and destination in the Padan Plain) through northern range ports instead of Italian ports. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]