'Truck waiting times in Liguria create diseconomies of 200 million'

"Waiting times for lorries in the port of Genoa alone cost over 130 million a year in diseconomies for the logistics system, but also for production in north-west Italy. And if the count is extended to the heavy vehicles circulating in the whole of Liguria (around 4,000, including the 2,500 in Genoa), the figure rises to around 200 million. Giuseppe Tagnochetti of Trasportounito raised the alarm, adding: 'Every day thousands of euros go up in smoke for lorries that, at best, are delayed by more than an hour at the port and at least an hour at the cargo pick-up points, both at industries and in the freight centres in the Po Valley.

A situation that has become unsustainable, according to the association of operators in the sector, which has presented the institutions with a new model for reorganising road haulage in Liguria: "We must extend the operating bands of industry and warehouses, as well as widen the working bands of the Ligurian port to serve lorries," says Tagnochetti, "and, at this point, use the road and motorway infrastructures in those time slots when they are freest, when people are not around; then try to reduce waiting times, improve commercial speeds, and guarantee an adequate service for traffic and goods. Also because, otherwise, it would make no sense to have invested billions of euro in infrastructure, such as the new breakwater, for example, which should serve to improve traffic, only to be unable to convey it at road level.

Therefore, reads Trasportounito's document, the new model should envisage the opening, 24 hours a day, of destination warehouses, port terminals and depots, for loading and unloading in broader time slots. This would allow truck flows to be distributed even in the morning (9 a.m. to 1 p.m.) and with less intensity in the afternoon (1 p.m. to 7 p.m.). With the extension of loading times, trucks would use motorway facilities at times when city traffic is at a standstill (3 a.m. to 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. to midnight). But for this, according to the association, a fundamental precondition would be needed: to suspend the night-time construction sites that currently paralyse Liguria.

"This extra-time operation,' Tagnochetti emphasises, 'would require a commitment of resources from all players in the supply chain, in terms of personnel (drivers, porters, dockers, etc.), but it would generate a competitive advantage on goods and economies of scale on investments. Of course, it would also require 'an acceleration of the document digitisation process, which has been initiated but not completed. It would require a total dematerialisation of documents. Moreover, it is not possible to work, as is the case today, with a different website for each terminal and a Pcs (Port community system, ndr) platform for each port.

And then, he continues, 'we need the compulsory introduction of truck time tracking, in port and logistics areas, to eliminate all the waiting times required by law, which cost time and generate disputes. Waiting times, on the other hand, must be paid for, applying Law 105/2025, converting the Infrastructure Decree, which established that, after 90 minutes of waiting, the truck must be paid 100 euros per hour'. Finally, cu want truck service facilities: we need a parking area for 800 heavy vehicles, which must be able to stop in compliance with the law for drivers, as well as spaces for storing goods'.