Il viceministro Rixi chiede un mondo imprenditoriale coeso, che parli con una voce unica. Zanetti (Confindustria): si stima un fabbisogno occupazionale di 175.000 lavoratori per il 2026-2030
Roma – His ambition is to make Assiterminal, the association that groups 110 companies of the Italian port terminal industry of which he has just been reconfirmed president, increasingly “the home of Italian portuality”. This is the message that Tomaso Cognolato launches at the end of his speech at the twenty-fifth public assembly of the organization today in Rome in the Sala del Tempio di Vibia Sabina e Adriano at the Rome Chamber of Commerce. A meeting that sees, among others, the participation of the Deputy Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Edoardo Rixi. Who, after having underlined how “Italy is not actually a maritime country because investments destined for the sector are unfortunately a minority”, defends the scheme of the bill for the reform of portuality of which he is the drafter (the text was presented today to the presidency of the Chamber). Rixi, addressing the audience, says bluntly that the government, the MIT, “needs a cohesive entrepreneurial world” that speaks with a single voice, without wasting itself in useless and counterproductive particularisms.
A “provocation” that was immediately picked up by Cognolato. “The business world – he argues – can no longer be self-referential, we are all connected to each other in an international dimension, each with their own specificities and business characteristics but closely connected in a supply chain that must increasingly dialogue in an integrated way, strengthening individual representation assets so as not to give alibis to ourselves and our interlocutors”.
Hence his proposal, declined into three “desires”. The first is legal certainty. The second is coordinated governance. “Let us imagine a landing point from which to start again for a path that looks forward, in the awareness of contexts, balances and scenarios that perhaps already require it: to realize together a single representation of the port sector, our third desire”. In other words, to arrive (even if not made explicit in his speech) at a sort of employers’ federation that brings together Assiterminal with Uniport, Assologistica and Ancip.
Cognolato explains: “Fragmentation is a state of limiting opportunities and relationship dynamics that markets have already overcome. Fragmentation is an internal romantic legacy: those who look at us from the outside see or imagine an associative system, obviously diversified, also characterized by a ‘sparkling’ dialectic, but in a country system where the representation of a strategic asset is called to be composite, united”.
Noteworthy is the speech by the Confindustria delegate for the maritime economy, Mario Zanetti. “Every year our ports handle more than 500 million tons of goods – he states – The country’s competitiveness depends more and more on the efficiency of terminals, the quality of infrastructure and the integration between port, railway, hinterland and logistics platforms. Today the sea is increasingly central and the Blue Economy is worth over 216 billion euros, equal to 11.3% of GDP, and employs over 1 million people. The Confindustria-Boston Consulting Group report estimated an employment need of about 175,000 workers for 2026-2030. Investing in the sea therefore means investing in work, skills and innovation. It is essential to continue working as a system between associations, the business and training world, institutions and territories to face together the challenges of the energy transition, digitalization and sustainability”.
In the photo: the president of Assiterminal, Tomaso Cognolato (right) with the general director, Alessandro Ferrari
