In our second edition of the Port pro of the month, we are interviewing Mr Paolo Emilio Signorini, President of the Port of Genoa and Savona (Italy). As President of one of the busiest ports in the Mediterranean, we asked him about his views on the current state of play in his port, his vision for the future and his opinion on some challenges which ports are facing today.
With the Reform, 24 Port Authorities merged into 15 Port System Authorities. The new Authorities of Genoa-Savona (West) and Trieste (East) have been identified by the Government as the main gateways of the country, deserving investment priorities. The Central Government has partially re-centralised the port planning and strategic decisions at national level, in order to avoid overlapping in port investments and to be more selective in project prioritisation. For this purpose, a new National Fund for Ports will be established in the near future, ensuring adequate financial resources to strategic infrastructure projects. Finally, the Reform has simplified the governance of the Port Authorities separating the executive board (with usually no more than 5 members including the President) from the partnership board, which is composed by all the port stakeholders and has an advisory function.