Piombino port’s new Darsena Est industrial logistics areas were inaugurated this morning. This 200.000m2 infrastructure is vitally important for the port of call. After three years, Piombino now has a dedicated area for developing its commercial activities.
In particular, it involved setting up all the facilities and underground installations (special plant piping, pvc power cable conduits, an electrical earthing system, a rainwater collection network, a fire-fighting system, a drinking and industrial water network, a sewage network, building foundations and specialized areas), paving and building access roads.
The project, co-financed by Tuscany Regional Administration (€18 million) and the port administration (€4.5 million), is the Port Network Authority’s response to the call for modernizing a local regional area whose port represents the driving force of its development.
This was highlighted by North Tyrrhenian Port Network Authority president, Luciano Guerrieri, at the infrastructure inauguration ceremony: “The area, which is now easily accessible from the new Gagno-Terre Rosse link road connecting the city’s access road to the northern areas of the port, is a formidable tool for promoting industrial diversification and further development of the area,” he said.
The Darsena Est facility is divided into three sections. The second section has been provisionally leased to Piombino Industrie Marittime (PIM) as a form of compensation for it losing a portion of the maritime state-owned areas which are currently used for regasification activities. The new infrastructure is the result of a long process that began in 2013 with the approval of the Port Masterplan.
“We have come a long way since 2013, completing the first large infrastructure section with the construction of a breakwater, a quay allocated to PIM, and a containment basin to be consolidated and made available to companies. Now that basin has been consolidated. The areas are ready to be used immediately and we are open to concessions that encourage the development of new traffic,” Mr. Guerrieri added.
President Guerrieri wanted to thank Sales for having carried out the work in an impeccable manner: “Now we must look to the future. The next step is to complete the wharf and the remaining containment basins, to enable Metinvest to operate there. We are very much counting on the possibility of acquiring the necessary resources following the forthcoming programme agreements on the allocation of the state-owned area where Piombino’s new steelworks are to be built.”
Eugenio Giani, president of Tuscany Regional Administration and special commissioner for this infrastructure project was present at the inauguration: “By hosting the regasification vessel, Piombino has taken on a role of national importance. I hope this will lead to the allocation of the resources we need to complete our port project,” he said, referring to the imminent signing of the programme agreement with Metinvest and JSW.
“Today’s inauguration gives a sense of the potential that the quay where the regasification vessel is currently berthed can offer. The port can become a model for the size of its infrastructures, catering not only for 20m draughts, but also offering areas behind the port with great potential and a new road network thanks to the construction of the access slip road to the port and its forthcoming direct link to the 398 fast road.”
According to deputy special commissioner, Roberta Macii, “the inauguration of the new areas represents another part of a big project, which we have tried to put together over the past few years, working closely with Tuscany’s Regional Administration and Piombino municipality. Now we are just one step away from signing the programme agreement with the two steel plants; one step away from completing the design of the second phase of the 398 and the facilities envisaged in our Port Masterplan. In short, Piombino is a last-mile lab: the extraordinary collaboration with our Regional Administration and our Municipality gives us the strength to look to the future of our port with confidence and optimism.”
The mayor of Piombino, Francesco Ferrari expressed his satisfaction: ‘The areas that are being inaugurated today are part of a series of infrastructures. We have inaugurated the slip road; after decades a construction site is clearly visible: the 398. With the completion of the new areas we are witnessing a transformation based on real practical initiatives.”
Translation by Giles Foster