Venezia – The Port of Venice is positioning itself to become a strategic hub in the new European system dedicated to the storage and handling of critical raw materials and rare earths, resources considered essential for Europe’s industrial competitiveness and economic security.
The hypothesis is at the center of the evaluations of the Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy and emerged during the visit of Minister Adolfo Urso to the Venice Heritage Tower in Porto Marghera.
The meeting with the port community and the productive fabric of the area represented an opportunity to take stock of the initiatives promoted by the European Union through the RESourceEU plan and the pilot project dedicated to the stockpiling of critical raw materials. These are tools designed to strengthen the resilience of European supply chains in an international context marked by geopolitical tensions and growing industrial competition.
Italy, which coordinates the European working group on the logistical and organizational aspects of the project, has already expressed its willingness to host the first European strategic storage center for raw materials. In this scenario, the Venetian port system is among the main logistics hubs identified at the national level, together with the ports of Trieste and Ravenna.
What makes Venice particularly suitable for this role are its infrastructural and operational characteristics: the multipurpose nature of the port, the presence of dedicated storage areas, integration with the railway, highway and interport network, and the ability to handle both containers and solid bulk. Elements that make it an ideal platform for the management of strategic materials such as magnesium, tungsten, rare earths and special steels, fundamental for sectors such as defense, automotive, energy and electronics.
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«Europe must act quickly to secure its strategic supply chains», declared the Minister, Sen. Adolfo Urso. «Italy, in this direction, is a candidate to host one of the first European strategic sites for the storage of critical raw materials and rare earths, indispensable for European industry and for the energy and digital transition. Veneto, with the Porto Marghera area, due to its geographical position, logistical capacity and presence of companies already active in the recycling and transformation of critical raw materials, could represent a natural gateway to European markets and a strategic hub for supply security.»
Around this project, further industrial investments in the recycling and transformation of critical raw materials could then also develop, strengthening the vocation of this area and the role of Italy in the new European value chains.
On the same line, the President of the Northern Adriatic Sea Port System Authority, Matteo Gasparato, who underlined the strategic value of the ministerial visit: «The visit of Minister Urso, whom I wish to thank, represents an important signal of attention towards the Port of Venice and towards the role that our port system can play in the new European strategies of economic and industrial security».
Gasparato then highlighted the specificity of Porto Marghera in the national landscape: «Porto Marghera is a unicum in Italy: a site that combines industry, port facilities and logistics of excellence and that continues to represent a strategic engine for the country.
We are not facing a port in the traditional sense of the term, but an articulated, dynamic and resilient economic system, capable of generating value, employment and innovation. Despite international tensions and the difficulties that global markets are going through, in 2025 traffic has grown both in goods and containers, confirming the competitiveness of our port system. As a Port System Authority we are investing in infrastructure and logistical connections to further strengthen the role of Porto Marghera as an industrial and logistical platform for advanced Made in Italy. The Simplified Logistics Zone, together with the incentives linked to Transition 4.0 and 5.0, represents a decisive lever to attract new investments and support business innovation. At the same time, Porto Marghera can become a European hub for the green transition, hydrogen and critical raw materials, thanks to infrastructure, skills and know-how that have no equal in Italy».
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The president of the Northern Adriatic Sea Port System Authority, Matteo Gasparato.
The European project on critical raw materials aims to build an integrated system of supply and management of strategic stocks capable of supporting the continent’s industrial supply chains and reducing dependence on external suppliers. In this framework, the Port of Venice strengthens its role as a key infrastructure not only for national logistics, but also for Italian and European industrial competitiveness.
