Dissemination Event in Trieste - ADRIPASS

The national dissemination event of the ADRIPASS project took place in Trieste, organized by the EGTC Euregio Senza Confini – project partner responsible for communication activities – under the coordination of CEI in its role as Lead Partner.

The meeting opened with greetings from CEI Secretary General Dr. Roberto Antonione, who in his introductory speech underlined that the transport sector is one of the fundamental pillars of the mission of the Central European Initiative. Its aim is to support European integration through cooperation among Member States, with the European Union, international and regional organizations, as well as other public or private institutions and NGOs. Dr. Sandra Sodini, Director of EGTC Euregio Senza Confini, also stressed the importance of the integration process with the Western Balkans. With regard to the new 2021–2027 programming period, Dr. Sodini further hoped for an effective alignment of new programmes with the strategic programming of various funds such as EUSAIR, highlighting the need to find a strategic dimension between territorial cooperation and regional/national programming.

Within ADRIPASS, an analysis of integrated intermodal transport in the Adriatic-Ionian region was carried out, including data collection at border crossings along the corridor level. This analysis highlighted key problems and possible solutions through the use of ICT tools. Dr. Carlo Vaghi, Scientific Director of Fit Consulting s.r.l., illustrated the analysis of bottlenecks at border crossings in Croatia and Slovenia. Based on desk research and field studies, the analysis revealed physical, organizational and IT problems at the transport nodes concerned. The Institute for Transport and Logistics (ITL), ADRIPASS project partner, presented the final transnational action plan for transport facilitation in the ADRION region, a key milestone of ADRIPASS, which builds on these results. Dr. Giuseppe Luppino noted that one solution to border crossing obstacles lies in the analysis and adoption of soft measures (ICT).

Seaports play a crucial role as main gateways to transport networks, serving the hinterland and river basins that extend beyond local and national borders. In ADRIPASS, five selected ports developed specific actions to improve their efficiency: the Port of Koper (Slovenia), the Port of Ploče (Croatia), the Port of Bar (Montenegro), the Port of Durres (Albania) and the Region of Epirus in collaboration with the Port of Igoumenitsa (Greece). These ports mainly focus on developing or upgrading their Port Community Systems, which are key ICT tools for information exchange between operators, clients, customs and other authorities.

Dr. Roberto Richter of the Port of Koper provided a detailed overview of all pilot actions conducted in the ports. The ports of Koper, Ploče and Bar focused on strengthening their Port Community Systems. The Regional Unit of Thesprotia / Region of Epirus developed a platform for the analysis of Port Community System flows and a mobile app for virtual augmented-reality navigation (testing ongoing until 12/2019). The pre-investment study for establishing a Port Community System at the Port of Durres was also presented. The study defines all project components, including hardware and software requirements, and modules to be implemented according to the functionalities of the transport modes concerned (ships, road and rail).

Dr. Alain Baron, Acting Director of the Transport Community Treaty, stressed the importance of having more targeted and coordinated strategies to achieve tangible results from numerous projects. Given this paradigm shift, he noted that the new phase of development should not be limited to pilot actions but should lead to concrete projects. Baron further highlighted ADRIPASS as a best practice example of tomorrow’s transport system: a sustainable project delivering immediate results and, for this reason, an example to be followed and reused within the framework of the Transport Community Treaty policies.

Prof. Pierluigi Coppola, Coordinator of EUSAIR Pillar 2 (Adriatic-Ionian Macroregion), illustrated the strategic priorities of the European Strategy for the Adriatic-Ionian Euroregion and the added value of ADRIPASS. Coppola noted that ADRIPASS is directly connected to the EUSAIR strategy as it improves connectivity in the ADRION region and transport exchanges with the rest of Europe. Thanks to pilot actions and the stakeholder engagement approach, ADRIPASS showed that its activities go beyond analysis or studies. On this occasion, he invited ADRIPASS to contribute to the next annual EUSAIR Forum, focused on port-hinterland connections, to be held in Belgrade in May 2020.

Dr. Barbara Di Piazza, Head of the Joint Secretariat of ADRION, presented Axis 3 – regional connectivity as part of the Interreg ADRION Programme strategy. She stressed that the main mission of ADRION in supporting the Macroregion is to act as a political driver: a tool to encourage innovation and its management through network funding, cooperation agreements, strategies and action plans. Projects funded in the transport sector were evenly split between the relevance of transport needs, especially intermodality, and maritime transport needs compared with land transport requirements. IPA countries were included to facilitate EU accession and knowledge transfer. ADRION also provided information on a series of capitalization events: within Axis 3 it was decided to cluster projects to foster mutual understanding, common purposes and synergies, thereby creating added value for participants and future activities. The first ADRION Capitalization Event, with ADRIPASS participation, will take place in Rome on 11 December. From 2020 onwards, further capitalization events will be organized to promote the transport axis through cross-linking, synergies and clustering.