Structural factors for a third-generation port: Planning interventions for mechanical logistics in Gioia Tauro, Italy

Third-generation ports are a strategic asset for the economic development of a territory. They represent an infrastructure that goes beyond the services related to the loading/unloading of goods and that offers the complete cycle of services within the supply chain. The port of Gioia Tauro is the first transhipment container (lift-on/lift-off) port and one of the most important for the (roll-on/roll-off) international traffic of road vehicles (automotive) of Italy. The increasing number of handled containers in 2020 is not enough to achieve the goal of making the port of Gioia Tauro one of the first European ports of the Southern Range. It’s necessary to fully develop its “third-generation” nature. This condition would allow to attract new companied, to increase the local production, the import and the export of the Calabrian regional economy. One of the possible ways to achieve this goal is the development of the logistics connected to the mechanical sector, with a specific focus on automotive. This sector in Calabria quotes about one third on the value of regional exports. The characteristics of the production plants is similar to that of the rest of the Italy: small and medium-sized enterprises are flanked by some settlements of world-leading multinational groups. The paper focuses on the logistics for the mechanical sector in Calabria, analysing the current criticalities and defining the development scenarios and the planned interventions strategies to be undertaken in the port of Gioia Tauro.