A control room to coordinate all the Entities that must issue permits and prevent the blocking of the vehicle when it has already departed. This is what the National Association of Professional Hauliers (Trasportounito) is asking for, expressing concern over a situation in Genoa that it believes is becoming unsustainable not only for haulage companies but also for those handling shipments and for the port terminals.
“It often happens – denounces Salvatore De Caro, President of Trasportounito Genoa – that the go-ahead for the transport company is communicated at the last minute; then, when the vehicle is about to set off to take advantage of the transit windows imposed by the motorways (from 11:30 PM to 4 AM) a motorway worksite suddenly materializes on the route that does not allow passage, even though it was authorized with pre-communicated measures”.
These blocks in the transport service, blocks which are almost never communicated in time, translate into costs for vehicle downtime, scheduled escorts, booked cranes, and lost shipments with exorbitant costs and a total loss of reliability for companies unable to keep their commitments. With the consequent congestion of service areas as well, paralyzed by the parking of exceptional loads.
“Without a turnaround – underlines De Caro – the sector is collapsing and in the absence of a single control room to coordinate the various Entities, and to which worksites that block the network must be communicated and pre-scheduled, the damages for industry could also prove to be disastrous”.
The risk feared by the Association is the total annihilation of one of the most important supply chains for shipments to and from the port of Genoa, that of plant equipment for everything that cannot be contained within the outline of a normal articulated lorry. Obviously to the direct advantage of Northern European ports, which are already taking advantage of a forced diversion of this type of high-value-added cargo.
