The port of Augusta, one of the most important in the Mediterranean, enters the European project for liquefied gas for ships. It joins the terminals under study in Naples, Ravenna, Livorno, Cagliari by expanding the mega-floor called GAINN4MOS. By 2025, Italy will have to build a network for the distribution and management of LNG storage facilities. In practice, the ports of the European TEN-T core network will have to supply liquefied gas to ships, but also provide - at a due technical distance - distributors for vehicles. Infrastructures of vital importance for the economy whose feasibility becomes necessary due to decreasing costs and competitiveness with extra-national systems.
The announcement of Augusta's entry into the European network is given in conjunction with an in-depth meeting promoted by Confindustria of Syracuse. The Eastern Sicily Port Authority has already started the procedures for expressions of interest for the work to be done. A necessary act that reconciles with the community indications to keep energy planning under control and respect the dates. We want to decarbonise the transport system by focusing on low-impact sources. Ships and maritime infrastructure will emit less greenhouse gases, but will have to access European funding. The interest of shipowners and shipping companies is tangible, above all with a view to reducing management costs and lowering the effects of their traffic on the quality of the sea. Augusta wants to become an example of experimentation and connection with the network of motorways of the sea which involves a total of 6 EU countries.
The TEN-T system has designed six transport corridors. Boosted intermodality with low environmental and sustainable impacts, shared by European governments since 2015, the year of birth of GAINN4MOS. Railways, roads, ports, interports all registered as a "European core network". The construction or enhancement of the structures must be compatible with the objectives of energy saving and environmental protection. The land-sea connections will have a continental scope and operational effectiveness if consistent with the objectives of reducing polluting emissions. There is no need to recall the controversies of these days on the environmental effects of the Tav, but so be it. The works are carried out or we are left behind.
Among the European corridors, four touch Italy: the Mediterranean from West to East (Turin, Milan, Verona, Venice, Trieste, Bologna and Ravenna); the Reno-Alpi which passes through the crossings of Domodossola and Chiasso stops in Genoa; the Baltic-Adriatic one which touches Austria, Slovenia, Trieste, Venice and Ravenna, passing through Udine, Padua and Bologna; the Scandinavian-Mediterranean one which from the Brenner Pass connects Trento, Verona, Bologna, Florence, Livorno and Rome with Naples, Bari, Catanzaro, Messina and Palermo. More than a bet that cannot be overwhelmed by short-term visions And then energy resources. LNG is a privileged source in the port infrastructure macro-design. It is among the fossil fuels the least polluting and the engines of ships will make more and more use of it. It does not emit sulfur dioxide, does not contain sulfur and when it burns it minimizes particulate emissions. In the ports you will be able to breathe new air. But it is the entire transport system that will ultimately benefit.
