Presented at the Interporto di Padova (Padua Freight Village) the Customs Fast Corridor railroad between the Port of La Spezia and the Padua terminal, the first of its kind in the entire northeast.

The service, which has already been active for a few months, has passed the experimental phase, and is now fully operational, allows import containers unloaded in La Spezia to complete their customs paperwork at the Padua Freight Village instead of at the port, with an average saving of one and a half days in final delivery time to the customer.  In practice, it is as if Interporto Padua’s terminal were an extra quay at the Port of La Spezia.  The presentation was also attended by the mayor of Padua Sergio Giordani, provincial councillor Vincenzo Gottardo, and the director of Padua Promex Franco Conzato for the Chamber of Commerce, as shareholders of Interporto Padova Spa.

“I would like to emphasise that this ‘fast corridor’ is the technological crowning glory that perfectly matches the best intermodal relations with one of the most important ports in our country,” commented the president of Interporto Padova Sergio Gelain, “and it is no coincidence that the very operator, the Contship group, which has the greatest vocation for rail traffic in its DNA, has contributed with us to the development, also commercial, of this new opportunity.

“I am very pleased with the activation of this corridor, which is part of a public Freight Village such as the one in Padua, a concrete demonstration that we also have a ‘public’ that works, and works well,’ commented the director of the Customs Agency of Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia Franco Letrari. It is an excellent example of collaboration between public and private entities that, by using the opportunities offered today by information technology, significantly improve a service to businesses. I hope that other similar corridors can be activated soon with Padua”.

Stefano Morelli general manager of Contship Italia Group the maritime terminal operator that with its private railway company was the first to activate the fast corridor service with Padua thanks to the daily connections between Interporto and La Spezia explains: “We believed in this service right from the start, as it adds efficiency to the final goods transport segment. It is very easy for customs agents to take advantage of this service based on the electronic tracking of goods, all they need to do is indicate the containers interested in the service at least four days before the ship’s arrival in port. In this way, all the computerised procedures will be activated which allow, on the one hand, monitoring the container on its rail journey and, on the other hand, transferring the relevant paperwork to the customs office responsible for the destination”.

“It is quite clear that in this way the containers leave the ports more quickly, with a benefit both for the port itself and for the final consignee,” comments the general director of Interporto Padua Roberto Tosetto. “This service goes in the direction that we have been taking for some time, that of increasing our operational efficiency, not only to have better business performance, but also to provide logistics operators and manufacturing companies with more efficient and punctual services.  The installation of electric gantry cranes in the terminal goes in this direction, allowing us, for the same surface area, a higher maximum terminal capacity, better yard management, and lower costs per crane ‘pull’. And also frees up space for the handling and parking, not only of maritime containers, but also of semi-trailers and swap bodies, as the market increasingly demands today”.