Special economic zones, here are promoted and rejected. Report Srm (Intesa Sanpaolo)
The point on ports and special economic zones (Zes) in the research of the Srm study center of Intesa Sanpaolo
Logistics and ports are worth 12 per cent of world GDP and 9 per cent of the Italian one and have represented "even during the period of the pandemic one of the cornerstones of our country's development". In fact, the Mediterranean Sea accounts for 20 per cent of the world maritime traffic of goods, with over 2 billion tons per year.
The SRM study center – controlled by Intesa Sanpaolo and specialized in the economic analysis of Southern Italy – writes this in a report entitled Resilience and Development in the South: sectors, areas and perspectives , presented during the digital conference of the Aspen Institute Italia on 3 last December.
A STRATEGIC ASSET, BEYOND THE ECONOMIC
Ports and logistics, however, are not only of economic importance. SRM speaks of them as sectors with a "geostrategic value" that allow to "connect markets", give companies international projection and "know the changes taking place and therefore prepare growth paths".
In the most critical phases of the pandemic emergency, the port supply chain remained active and allowed the economy to continue, but it also protected Italian security by guaranteeing food and health supplies.
HOW MUCH ARE PORTS AND SEA FOR ITALY
The doubling of the Suez Canal, inaugurated in August 2015, has made the trade in goods through this hub, which is worth 10% of world traffic, faster and more efficient. The drop in volumes caused by the pandemic and the use of alternative routes by ships – "in order not to pay for the transit, considered expensive, of the Egyptian canal" – obviously had negative repercussions on import-export. Also for Italy.
In fact, in the first half of 2020, maritime trade in Italian ports dropped by 21 percent. According to SRM estimates, by the end of the year the decrease will be 23-25 percent in a light scenario and 36-38 percent in a severe one.
A particularly significant drop for Italy, given that the sea accounts for 36 per cent in trade, for a value of 249.1 billion euros. Italy is a leader in the sector of short sea shipping (SSS-Short Sea) in the Mediterranean, having a market share of 39 percent, with 246 million goods transported.
However, considering that the main port partners are the United States (for exports) and China (for imports), Italy should focus on strengthening long-range (or deep sea ) routes, also to facilitate the projection of companies to these countries.
THE PORTS OF SOUTH ITALY
The economy of the sea, as SRM calls it, is extremely important for Southern Italy, which is in fact worth 33.3 percent of the national total. The goods handled in the ports of the South – the impact of the agri-food sector is strong – represent 42 percent of all Italian traffic.
These ports can then "play a leading position for the post-COVID restart", the report argues, thanks also to their favorable geographical position, close to the Suez Canal and to the center of the Mediterranean. Two of the most interesting are the port of Taranto (whose Multi-sectoral dock is also able to accommodate mega-ships) and that of Gioia Tauro (where in the first half of 2020 there was a 38.7% increase in container), which in fact attracted the attention and investments of major players, including foreign ones.
WHAT TO DO FOR NAVAL GIGANTISM
The report then focuses on a phenomenon that, according to the authors, "is not easily arrested" and was not even so since COVID-19: that of naval gigantism. In fact, the November 2020 data indicate a 15 percent increase at the end of 2020, and a 10 percent increase in 2021, in the number of naval units exceeding 15,000 TEUs in orderbooks.
According to SRM, the increase in ship size is explained by the "continuous search for economies of scale" and "the need to rationalize routes". The phenomenon is already leading to a selection process of ports that favors the largest and most digitized ones. To keep up, therefore, Italy will have to make investments "in dredging, docks, embarkation and disembarkation technologies, new generation cranes, crew training".
The report explains that, however, our local ports suffer from structural deficiencies, also due to overly complex regulations that lengthen the construction times of the works. Another problem that risks compromising Italian competitiveness is the insufficient integration of ports with the road and rail transport chain.
EYE TO CHINA
The SRM report then goes on to examine the Belt and Road Initiative (or New Silk Road), the large Chinese infrastructure project that has created turmoil in the sector: "a Memorandum was also signed, in March 2019, where the 'interest in Genoa […] and Trieste ”.
SRM says that the Chinese strategy must be monitored "very carefully" for its "value": China has also invested and obtained a terminal concession in Greece (the port of Piraeus), Spain, Israel, Belgium, the Netherlands and Turkey. The report argues that it is "likely to think that these ports will increase their competitiveness and the quantities of goods handled, given the huge resources that will be channeled there".
SPECIAL ECONOMIC ZONES
In Italy, SRM reconstructs, the special economic zones (SEZs) were introduced in 2017 with the aim of "conceiving the port as a 'pivot' guiding a system of territorial development".
75 per cent of the special economic zones in the world are concentrated in Asia, and in particular in China (47 per cent, for an added value deriving from trade of approximately 850 billion dollars). In Europe there are 105: particularly important are the fourteen in Poland, which favored the creation of 296,000 new jobs; About eighty Italian companies are also involved.
The report highlights that Italian "port competitors" are also resorting to SEZs. For example Egypt, which has the largest in the Mediterranean, around the Suez Canal: the Suez Canal Zone, which has attracted Chinese and Russian investments.
At the moment, Italy has defined eight special economic zones around ports, which provide for a whole series of state and regional tax credit facilities, administrative procedures and the possibility of creating customs free zones. There is a SEZ in Campania (ports of Naples, Salerno and Castellammare), two in Puglia (Bari-Brindisi and Taranto, also involving Molise and Basilicata), one in Calabria (Gioia Tauro); two in Sicily (Palermo and Catania-Augusta), one in Sardinia (Cagliari-Olbia) and one in Abruzzo (Ancona).
According to the SRM study, the exclusive economic zones that have obtained the best results from the point of view of investments are those in Campania and Calabria. The research center writes that "SEZs are a way to go as they give more competitiveness to the port and all our main competitors in the Mediterranean are adopting strategic policies to that effect", suggesting that the Recovery Fund be used to "enrich incentives" and encourage investments in the South.
WHAT INTESA SANPAOLO DOES
Intesa Sanpaolo has provided a ceiling of 1.5 billion euros for companies interested in making investments in the SEZs and has signed memoranda of understanding with the port system authorities of the central Tyrrhenian, Ionian and southern Adriatic. It also organized "operational missions" in the Emirate of Dubai and in China to facilitate meetings between operators and the Italian port system authorities.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/smartcity/porti-italia-zone-economiche-speciali-rapporto-srm/ on Sat, 12 Dec 2020 15:58:45 +0000.