As had been predictable since last March, the MSC Group has decided to abandon the project to participate in the construction and subsequent management of a new inland terminal in Cortenuova, in the province of Bergamo. This was revealed, according to the Corriere di Bergamo, by the Vitali Group, the other partner and the real estate developer of Cortenuova Freight Station (a company 60% owned by Medlog), an initiative that, after 5 years of waiting in vain, has practically not even taken its first steps yet.
“Between the end of 2024 and the beginning of 2025, the conditions had been created for the signing of a memorandum of understanding through which the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport could have established the public interest of the project and formally initiated the authorization process,” explained Vitali. “However, despite the opening of institutional discussions, no concrete decision has been made to date. In the meantime, MSC has officially communicated its withdrawal, a decision driven not by industrial or economic problems, but by authorization delays, regulatory uncertainties, and the complete absence of clear and timely signals from local institutions.”
Vitali, however, intends to move forward: “We have decided to look ahead—explained the company—by resuming the threads of this important project, confirming our presence as developers of the area. An approach that focuses on the needs of the territory and the redevelopment of the former Cortenuova Steelworks area. Therefore, we have taken an interest in expressions of interest from other operators, starting with Cisaf, already active in the old freight yard, as well as national and European entities ready to bet on Cortenuova as a new intermodal hub in the province of Bergamo. After letting a high-speed train pass, we hope this will finally be the opportunity to listen to and make space for the local ‘tricolor trains,’ allowing them to grow.”
The Bergamo inland terminal Cortenuova Freight Station, according to the original plans, was to be built with an investment estimated at the time (2020) at 100 million euros and developed on a 330,000-square-meter area connected to the railway, with the redevelopment of disused and existing structures (including the shopping center). The project also included internal customs clearance of goods.
With this project shelved, MSC’s future port-related activities in Italy will therefore proceed through the partnership with the State Railways (Mercitalia Logistics) signed in 2023 and aimed at “developing intermodality between maritime and rail transport with greater and more effective synergies to expand—as stated in the announcements at the time—the logistics network for freight transport to and from Italian and European ports, through a newco for the creation of new terminals.”
The agreement was part of the actions of the FS Industrial Plan, which includes the strengthening of existing terminals and the construction of new multimodal hubs to increase the volume of goods transported. The agreement also provided for the creation of a new company controlled by Mercitalia Logistics (51%) and participated in by Medlog (49%), an MSC Group company specializing in intermodality and logistics, with the aim of designing, building, and managing new freight terminals within the sites of the two groups in Italy.
