Safe, fast, environmentally sustainable, integrated and harmonized control procedures for goods through the digitization of the first one-stop-shop facilities at European level: these are the themes of the seminars and technical visits held in Livorno as part of the European initiative Smooth Ports – Interreg Europe.

The technical groups from major European and Italian Ports (Livorno, Hamburg, Nantes, Varna, Trieste and Monfalcone) also witnessed the fruitful participation of the competent goods control bodies such as the Ministry of Health, the Customs Agency, the Regional Phytosanitary Service and Agecontrol.

The Livorno set up has proved to be a best practice at European level in its synergic management of controls and in the efficiency of its cargo verification operations, thanks to the close cooperation between the Port Authority, control bodies and port and freight village operators.

This experience makes use of Port Community platforms such as the Tuscan Port Community System (TPCS) – which will have implemented digitized procedures for integrated controls by the end of 2020 – and highlights the added value of the human factor in making our area competitive, especially in those sectors such as agri-food and fruit and vegetables, which are a significant economic asset at regional level.

The on-site visit to the port facilities (TDT and Lorenzini terminals) and Amerigo Vespucci freight village allowed participants to relate these procedural aspects to the articulated infrastructural context, with the area’s numerous logistic excellences.

Smooth Ports started thanks to Hamburg’s initiative. One of its objectives is to propose best practices and experiences to be transferred to the next European programming for the 2021-2027 period: “The Port of Livorno will be able to contribute to the definition of basic standards and practices for the efficiency and safety of ports and logistic infrastructures,” stressed Antonella Querci, who is responsible for the local Port Community System and the SMOOTH PORTS project. She also underlined the strategic role that our port will have in relation to the contents of the next operational plan of the Interreg Italy-France Maritime Programme, also through Tuscany Regional Administration, which will finance logistics and port projects in the area.