New business opportunities with the ports of Shenzhen and Guangzhou and the logistics platform of Shunde.

Following up on the visit of representatives of the port of Guangzhou to Genoa and Padua last month, between 10 and 14 October the Ports of Genoa and Padua Freight Village set up a joint trade mission to the Guangdong region, one of the most dynamic engines of the Chinese economy. Through participation in the CILF – China International Logistics Fair in Shenzhen and several visits to the ports of Shenzhen and Guangzhou, culminating in the meeting with the Cantonese port community, attended by numerous carriers active between China and the Mediterranean (CMA CGM, OOCL, MSC, ONE, Evergreen, Yang Ming, Hapag Lloyd, Hyundai MM), the opportunities for developing trade between southern China and southern Europe were presented, through the logistics channel centred on the Ports of Genoa (first in Italy for traffic with China) and the Padua Freight Village (first for rail traffic volume with the ports). By exploiting the direct railway connections of the Ports of Genoa with Basel and the service network of the intermodal centre of Padua (connected with Genoa by 24 trains per week), it is possible to effectively serve the entire market of Northern Italy and to propose a competitive offer for Switzerland, Austria and Southern Germany. Very positive feedback from Chinese operators, who are extremely interested in developing relations with Italy and in particular in increasing imports of high-quality Made in Italy products, also through the construction of the new logistics platform in Shunde, dedicated to Italian manufacturing, and targeted initiatives to support e-commerce. The common commitment is to transform the contacts made into concrete development projects, to be refined in the coming months. The occasion for an initial verification will be the Green Logistics Expo organised by the Padua Freight Village next March, in which the Chinese partners have been invited to participate in order to give continuity to the relations started.