Intermodality was born in Padua

The modern concept of intermodality was born in Padua: the neologism itself “Interporto” was coined in 1970 during a Tramag convention, by the then commercial director of the State Railways, Mauro Ferretti, and the Chairman of the Padua Chamber of Commerce, Mario Volpato. In fact, it was Mario Volpato who conceived the idea of what is now Interporto Padova: in just less than three years, the first company was formed in the Industrial Zone that used the neologism “Interporto” in its company name. Now Interporto is the italian neologism for Freight Villages with an intermodal platform.
On 6th June 1973 the four founding partners, Padua Municipal Council, Padua Provincial Council, Padua Chamber of Commerce and the State Railways formed “Interporto Merci Padova Spa”, recognised among the 9 top level freight villages by Law no. 240 in 1990.

Mission

Forty years later, the company is now named Interporto Padova Spa, has extended its partnership structure and has a share capital of over 30 million Euros. The mission has remained unchanged however, to provide companies in north east Italy with efficient and modern logistics and intermodal structures and services; to this commitment the additional undertaking regarding sustainability and defence of the environment has been added in recent years, which has been tangibly applied in numerous projects which are added to the natural “intermodal vocation”. The main one is without doubt “Cityporto”, the town distribution service using ecological vehicles, but there is also the important achievement of installing the photovoltaic systems on the roofs of the Interporto’s warehouses, which in fact is one of the largest installations of this type in Europe.