LIVORNO. «So we risk losing the traffic of new cars which, for the port of Livorno, is central: in total, in 2023, 550 thousand were moved». Jari De Filicaia he is the president of Uniport Livorno, a cooperative that deals with port operations and offers services to port terminal operators such as loading and unloading ships. And now, he explains, the new rule on license plates which provides for one authorization for every five workers risks compromising the operation of the port together with the 300 handling workers who could soon find themselves without a job. «It is true – underlines De Filicaia – there will be direct consequences for the employees of the companies that mainly carry out the activity of transferring new cars from the yards inside the port to those outside. A fundamental operation especially in this phase in which there are not many spaces and which, essentially, serves to decongest the terminal yards. The risk? That in the absence of someone who does this type of work there will also be immediate repercussions on the operation of the port.”
The reconnaissance
Recently, the Port System Authority of the Northern Tyrrhenian Sea has started a reconnaissance process. “The body has made available some of its areas outside the port: for over a year, in fact, we have been asking for additional spaces to deal with the ships that transport cars – underlines De Filicaia – It is a market that is recovering compared to the pre-pandemic numbers that, however, we have not yet reached. There is a recovery and for opportunities, also for those who transport cars, there is an increase in concentrated volumes”.
Market recovering
Yes, because if before on average each ship unloaded from 1,000 to 1,200 cars, today instead we are talking about 2,000 vehicles, about double. “Well, given how we were organized, these numbers represent a criticality and we had to take cover by also looking for areas outside the port to decongest the dock and allow the next ship to arrive – underlines the president of Uniport -. Today this operation often happens live: in practice the cars are unloaded on land and then transferred immediately because we know that three days later another ship will arrive and therefore the spaces must be freed up quickly”.
The mobilization
Now the goal is to go back and allow employees to do their jobs. In fact, with the new rule, four out of five risk remaining stationary while a colleague – the only one with authorization – transports the machines. «I coordinated with Gabriele Martelli, urban planning, infrastructure and port coordinator for Confindustria Tuscany center and coast, and with Matteo Paroli, general secretary of the Port Authority who wrote to the deputy minister Edoardo Rixi. We are all moving because we know what and how serious the repercussions could be for the port of Livorno – specifies De Filicaia –. Questions were also presented in Parliament. Now there are commitments, both from the majority and opposition forces, to present amendments that must be respected.” And the mayor Luca Salvetti is also taking an interest in the matter. «Our mobilization will be maximum – comments the mayor -. We know that a few technical measures are enough to eliminate an absurd legislative distortion. It is good that the ministry immediately becomes aware of the risks faced by workers in all ports and those of the Livorno port which is at the top in Italy in terms of vehicle handling”. And after the article of Tyrrhenianalso intervenes the Democratic deputy Marco Simiani. «The new regulation on test plates is putting many car handling companies in crisis, risking causing hundreds of layoffs throughout Italy. We ask the government to change this regulation making it more flexible», writes the group leader in the Environment Commission of Montecitorio announcing, together with colleagues Andrea Casu and Valentina Ghio, a parliamentary question.
