On 28th July at the Relais Histò in Taranto, ITS Logistica Puglia organized the Conference "Transport and Logistics 4.0: sustainability, technologies and new skills". The event was part of the INTERREG Italy-Albania - Montenegro project "PORTS 4.0 - Partnership for the promotion of a maRiTime cross-border Strategy". Nearly eighty people attended this chance to compare projects on maritime logistics.

The works were introduced by the President of ITS Logistica Puglia, Silvio Busico, who expressed his applause for the creation of a large cross-border cluster of logistics between Italy, Albania and Montenegro, supported by the world of businesses and institutions, to identify factors that allow new projects.

The Councilor of the Municipality of Taranto for Economic Development, Fabrizio Manzulli, brought the greetings of the Mayor of Taranto, Rinaldo Melucci, reiterating the synergistic commitment of the municipal administration for all initiatives aimed at sustainable development of the territory. The Councilor of the Puglia Region for Economic Development, Alessandro Delli Noci, also underlined support for this cause.

The first session of the conference "The green and digital transition in transport and logistics: best practices, obstacles to overcome and development opportunities in the program area", begun with the speach made by Gianna Elisa Berlingerio, Director of the Economic Development Department of the Puglia Region. Afterwards, two important exponents of the Balkan academic world intervened: Danilo Nikolic, Full Professor at the Faculty of Maritime Studies - University of Montenegro and Florjan Xhelilaj for the Albanian Institute of Transport.

From the first session it emerged that thanks to the structural funds allocated over the 2021-2027 period, it will be possible to pursue the goals of sustainable and digital development. It means that by 2030 zero-emission seagoing vessels will be on the market, and by 2050 the European Union will boast a sustainable, fast and intelligent trans-european intermodal transport network. To achieve these objectives, however, it is always necessary to start from a good PEMP (Port Environmental Management Plan).

The second session, entitled "The green and digital transition in transport and logistics: impacts, market trends and case studies", was introduced by Angelo Corallo, Core Lab Coordinator, Full Professor at the University of Salento. Then, Fabio Talamo, Expert of the Development and Technological Innovation Department of the Port System Authority of the Southern Adriatic Sea took the floor. Following, it was the turn of Luciano Manelli, Innovation Manager of the Port System Authority of the Ionian Sea; Fabio D’Aniello, CEO at Robotronix and Sales Manager Teseo-Clemessy Systems; Mario Direnzo and Teresa Laterza for MacNil, and Giovanna Cavone, Head of Logistics and Supply Chain at Bosch.

From the testimonies of the businesses and institutions world, it has arisen the common intention to work on the digitization and simplification of administrative procedures with greater transparency and better implementation of new technologies.
The working day ended with the third session, “New skills and professional profiles for transport and logistics 4.0”, which was attended by Annamaria Fiore for ARTI (Regional Agency for Technology and Innovation) of the Puglia Region; Nicolò Berghinz for ALIS; Luigia Tocci, Director of ITS Logistica Puglia and Rossella Riccò, Senior Consultant at OD&M CONSULTING.

According to these speeches, maritime logistics between the three countries doesn't only requires efficient infrastructures and effective processes. It is necessary to have plans that allow to count on highly specialized personnel too. Hence, the importance of the link between territory, training and businesses.

This conference, organized as part of Project PORTS 4.0, was an important opportunity to discuss the future scenarios of European logistics, in the light of the Next Generation EU plan and the European Green Deal. These topics are strongly related to the new skills required by the labor market in reference to the logistics sector.

With those actions the Project PORTS 4.0 aims to build a solid network between public and private stakeholders operating in logistics, in order to facilitate commercial exchanges in the INTERREG area (Italy-Albania-Montenegro), with a view to an increasingly sustainable logistics, capable of updating to the latest Industry 4.0 digital technologies.