The Contship Italia Group is keen to attract a larger share of Asian cargo to its six container terminals.

For transhipment cargo, the group is competing on a pan-Mediterranean level, but for gateway cargo, which addresses domestic consumption and production, the group believes that shipments to and from land-locked European countries could also be routed through its facilities, particularly La Spezia Container Terminal, approximately 140 kilometres southeast of Milan.

“For the last year or two, we have been championing La Spezia, and the Contship Italia Group more generally, on its ability to offer a competitive end-to-end service from Asia to Switzerland,” said Michael Cashman, commercial director of Contship Italia. “Historically, Swiss cargo has been routed through North Europe for many reasons, some positive and some negative. Through our efforts, we are now confident to be able to say that where once there were negative reasons for not using Italy as a gateway to southern Europe, we are resolving those and we have proved in the last year or so that it can work, it is working, and it will work better with more support.”

The nearby Port of Genoa is also targeting inland markets such as Switzerland and southern Germany, but in Contship Italia’s opinion, Genoa isn’t doing the same thing.

“They’re offering the same possibilities, but we’re doing things differently,” Cashman said. “We manage the terminal side, the interface between the ship side and the inland transportation, and also the onward connection to Italy and beyond. So one of our unique selling points is the fact that you’re dealing with one entity controlling various pieces of the logistics cycle, whereas no other Italian port can say that.”

The majority of the trains leaving La Spezia head to Contship Italia’s Rail Hub Milano, an intermodal facility in the eastern suburbs of Milan, where cargo can then be transferred onto other trains or onto trucks.

As Asia’s, and particularly China’s, middle classes increase their spending power, the demand for high-value Italian imports grows. Many of these luxury goods, such as cheese, ham and leather accessories, originate in northern Italy.

“We’re ideally placed to service that demand,” said Cashman. “We have four Asia-Med services a week calling at La Spezia at the moment. One of the key points that we’ve been looking at is what the networks will look like under the revised alliance structure. Potentially, we could end up with up to two more calls in La Spezia in 2017. This is driven by the demand of La Spezia.”

However, he admitted that, even though there is clear evidence of a demand for La Spezia, it is still the case that more people know Genoa than La Spezia.

“That’s one objective that we’re possibly not getting through yet because people are still asking for Genoa,” Cashman said. “My role is to convince them to ask for La Spezia and La Spezia only.”

La Spezia Container Terminal is in the middle of a substantial €200 million investment plan, involving the refurbishing of 11 cranes, a reorganization of the terminal and an upgrade of the rail facilities so that the share of cargo moving in and out by rail increases from 30-35% to 50%. In times like these, Cashman said that it’s even more of challenge to convince customers that, in a total market where price is one of the top priorities, there is value in paying something more.

Nevertheless, with La Spezia Container Terminal approaching its 50^th anniversary in 2021, Cashman said that he is already looking forward to the next 50 years.

“There’s one thing that will continue and that’s global trade,” he said. “Whether it comes out of Shanghai or Vietnam or Cambodia or Myanmar, it will need a ship to get to wherever it needs to be and we’ll be there to provide our service.”

By Jeffrey Lee

Asia Cargo News | Shenzhen