Port of Genoa
| Port of Genoa | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Data | |||
| UN / LOCODE | ITGOA | ||
| operator | Port Authority of Genoa ( ADSP del Mar Ligure occidentale ) |
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| opening | around 1130 | ||
| Port type | seaport | ||
| Total area of the port | 1,200 ha | ||
| Passengers | 3,110,432 (2016) | ||
| Throughput | 50.8 million t (2016) | ||
| Container (TEU) | 2,297,917 TEU (2016) | ||
| website | www.portsofgenoa.com | ||
| Geographic information | |||
| place | Genoa | ||
| Metropolitan city | Metropolitan city of Genoa | ||
| Country | Italy | ||
 (left: container terminal Voltri only partially visible) |
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| Coordinates | 44 ° 24 '15 " N , 8 ° 54' 15" E | ||
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The port of Genoa is the largest seaport in Italy in terms of area . In terms of cargo throughput, it was the second largest port in the country after the port of Trieste in 2016 with around 50 million tonnes, and in terms of passenger numbers it was seventh with over three million guests. The natural harbor in Mandraccio Bay was already used in antiquity and was later the center of maritime activities in the Maritime Republic of Genoa for several centuries .
Location and infrastructure
The port is located at the northernmost point of the Ligurian Sea and thus strategically favorable to the heavily industrialized northern Italian and European hinterland. Although the Ligurian Apennines and in the broader sense also the Alps form natural barriers and lack of suitable rivers no inland waterways between Genoa and its industrialized hinterland is possible, the port thanks may motorway and - railway connections and also thanks to the built in the harbor airport of Genoa as multimodal good connected apply. The port operator calls it the Southern Gateway to Europe .
The port facilities cover around 700 hectares , plus 500 hectares of water. The shore length of all quays is almost 30 kilometers, the depth of the harbor basins is between 9 and 15 meters, in some places it is up to 50 meters. The port of Genoa extends from the Foce district in the east (Levante) to the Voltri district in the west (Ponente) and can be divided into several sections:
The Area di Levante near the Foce district with the Duca degli Abruzzi marina and the Bacino delle Grazie basin with dry docks and other facilities that are mainly used for ship repairs. This area is also where the Genoa Exhibition Center is located, where the international boat exhibition Salone Nautico di Genova takes place.
This is followed by the Mandraccio Bay with the old port of Porto Antico , which was restored until 1992 according to plans by the architect Renzo Piano . There are two more marinas, a large aquarium , the Galata Sea Museum and other tourist attractions as well as a congress center . Also worth mentioning are the regional directorate (Direzione marittima) and the port captain's office (Capitaneria di Porto) of the coast guard as well as the Palazzo San Giorgio , today the seat of the Autorità Portuale , which operates the ports of Genoa, Savona and Vado Ligure . The rest of the bay is mainly used for ferry traffic and the cruise business . The historic Stazione Marittima is now a cruise terminal. The company Stazioni Marittime SpA operates four additional passenger terminals in the port. The passenger handling facilities, which have been awarded a state license, cover around 290,000 m². There are 15 berths for cruise ships and ferries at five piers . The ferry facilities have a total annual capacity of 4 million passengers, 1.5 million cars and 250,000 trucks . At the southwest end of the bay is the Southern European Container Hub , a container terminal .
In a westerly direction, the piers and basins of the industrial port follow in front of the Sampierdarena district . Most of these facilities are named after former Italian colonies or places in these areas, a quay tongue after the former seaplane base in Genoa ( Idroscalo ) . Container ships , bulk and general cargo carriers and tankers are handled in the industrial port of Sampierdarena . The terminals Messina , San Giorgio , Sampierdarena Oli , Genoa Metal , Spinelli and Silomar are important .
This is followed by the (former) steelworks of Cornigliano and the airport, the runway of which was laid in the port basin and which, together with the apron and the coastline in front of the districts of Sestri Levante and Multedo, forms an artificial bay in which there are several port facilities. These include another large marina, which has also had berths for yachts up to 90 meters long since 2007, a shipyard belonging to the shipbuilding company Fincantieri , which builds cruise ships in Sestri Ponente, and the Multedo oil port with its four discharge bridges .
In the far west is the PSA Voltri-Pra ' container terminal , which opened in July 1992 and , with an annual capacity of 1.5 million TEUs, is the largest of its kind in Genoa. Because the container terminal is a bit out of the way, it is managed by the Autorità Portuale as an independent port. At the terminal there is a marina and a regatta course .
The landmark of the port and the city is the Torre della Lanterna lighthouse , which stands between the old port in Mandraccio Bay and the industrial port of Sampierdarena on the heights of San Benigno . The two-part pier Diga foranea acts as a breakwater and protects the old port, the industrial port and the airport runway. There are four port entrances. From east to west these are: the Bocca di Levante near Foce, the Bocca di Ponente between the industrial port and the steelworks at the mouth of the Polcevera , the Imboccatura di Multedo between the airport and the oil port and the Imboccatura di Pra ' at the Voltri-Pra ' container terminal '. The small Imboccatura di Pegli there near the Pegli district is only intended for the aforementioned marina at the container terminal. The Sopraelevata Aldo Moro elevated road runs between the port and the city center and is a controversial feature of Genoa's waterfront .
La Lanterna
Stazione Marittima
Airport and oil port
Container Terminal
Voltri-Pra '
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Port and traffic development
The port's versatility is characteristic: in addition to handling passenger traffic, goods of all kinds can be handled, ships are built, repaired, rebuilt, modernized and also scrapped in Genoa. The port is controlled by the most important shipping companies , which connect it with ports on all inhabited continents.
In the first four decades of the 20th century, the turnover of goods rose from around five to eight million tons annually. At that time, the construction of the industrial port began in Sampierdarena, with which the port of Genoa expanded for the first time outside the bay along the coast. During the Second World War , the port was badly damaged, mainly by bombing, but was able to reach the throughput of eight million tons again in the immediate post-war period. In the 1970s, the handling of goods had increased eightfold to 62 million tons annually. Economic problems and labor disputes brought this figure to around 40 million tons by the following decade. In the 1990s there was again a slight increase to around 50 million tons per year. The throughput settled at this level in the following two decades. The top position in Italy then lost Genoa to Trieste, but only because of the development of the petroleum segment : while the beginning of Genoa pipeline Central European line was shut down in 1997, remains the greater, from Trieste also to Ingolstadt leading Transalpine Pipeline in operation. Thanks to the new container terminals, container throughput in Genoa is over 2 million TEUs annually, with the transshipment segment being less important in contrast to Gioia Tauro, for example . Since the turn of the millennium, the annual number of passengers has hovered around the 3 million mark. The fact that ports such as Messina , Naples or Piombino have significantly higher numbers here is largely due to the very busy connections in the Strait of Messina , to Capri or Elba . Civitavecchia is currently the leader in the cruise segment.
Due to the steadily increasing size of the ships, there have been plans for some time to radically rebuild the industrial port of Sampierdarena, in part. The prerequisite for this is the new construction of the Diga foranea pier several hundred meters south of the current course or at least a partial new construction that would significantly enlarge the port entrance of Bocca di Levante . The most radical variant envisages moving the quays of the industrial port up to the current pier, converting the airport grounds into new port facilities and building a new airport on a new, expanded “pier”. More restrained designs include an oil port and a wind farm at the new pier , as well as less drastic reconstructions of the industrial port and keeping the airport in its previous form. Basins between piers have already been filled in at the outer ends of the industrial port, creating larger platforms. The western parts of the industrial port are in the final approach lane of the airport, which is why the port facilities there may not exceed a certain height. The aforementioned conversion plans also exist because of this problem.
In Genoa there is a hydrographic institute and a merchant navy academy . For shipbuilding and the maritime industry is Genoa University of importance, which maintains an economic department at the old port. There is also the Istituto nautico San Giorgio , a technical college founded in 1827 that specializes in shipping.
history
Ancient and Middle Ages
The area at Porto Antico was inhabited as early as the Neolithic . From 500 BC a permanent settlement was built there , which was possibly built and inhabited by a mixed population of Ligurians , Etruscans and Greeks . In the Second Punic War , the settlement allied with Rome was destroyed, but rebuilt around 200 BC. From this time onwards it developed into a regional trading center. Almost nothing is known about the nature and use of the natural harbor at that time.
During the Migration Period and in the early Middle Ages , the roads dating from Roman times fell into disrepair. From the 9th century onwards , the small port town was repeatedly invaded by the Saracens , which led to the establishment of Genoese naval forces , which played an important role in the Mediterranean region in the following centuries. In the 11th century they were involved in the liberation of Sardinia and Corsica and in the First Crusade , thus laying the foundations for the Genoese colonies . Genoa's port thus became both a military naval base and an important trading port. The Republic of Genoa was able to eliminate its rival Pisa in the naval battle of Meloria in 1284 , and put its rival Venice in its place in the naval battle of Curzola in 1298, thereby securing its position in the Black Sea . These general conditions between the 11th and 15th centuries , which were very positive for Genoa, explain the outstanding importance of the port at that time.
The founding of today's (old) port can be traced back to the fortification of Genoa in the High Middle Ages and to the creation of the office of the so-called sea consuls, who directed or supervised the expansion of the port and its operation. Around 1130 the first lighthouse was built on the headland of San Benigno . Around 1250, the rocky promontory on the eastern side of the natural harbor was extended to a pier, which was called Molo Vecchio or "Old Pier" from the 16th century , in contrast to Molo Nuovo , which was on the opposite side of the bay at the time The foot of the lighthouse was built. The inner bay formed by the Molo Vecchio became the berth for countless boats, which were known as mandria or "herd". On the word Mandria based possibly today's Italian name Mandracchio small fishing ports or marinas; in Genoa, however, the name for this bay is differently Mandraccio . According to other explanations, the term comes from the Greek mandràki , meaning pen , or from the Arab world.
Together with the Molo Vecchio , a naval arsenal was built and the Palazzo del Mare , later called Palazzo San Giorgio , was built. After being used as the seat of government, the palace became the headquarters of the Banco di San Giorgio, an extremely important financial institution for the Republic of Genoa . Today the Autorità Portuale is located in the building . Next to the Molo Vecchio , very close to the Palazzo San Giorgio , there were six wooden landing stages , which were named either after the goods handled there or after important families who had their houses there (including Spinola , Grimaldi ). These jetties were replaced by fixed piers in the 15th century. In the middle of the 16th century, the Molo Vecchio reached a length of almost 500 meters. The city of Genoa and its port were largely shaped by the architect Galeazzo Alessi . Under his direction, the expansion of the (old) port was completed.
Modern times
_-_n._11_-_Genova_-_Veduta_da_Castelletto.jpg)
The political, military, economic and social decline of Genoa (and Italy), which lasted almost three centuries, began, which reached its low point in 1797 with the Napoleonic occupation and the end of the Republic of Genoa. A major reason for the descent was the (re-) discovery of America by the Genoa-born navigator Christopher Columbus and the associated shift in the focus of seafaring from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic Ocean . Emblematic of the weakness of the republic was the shelling of Genoa by the French navy in 1684, during the War of Reunion (Genoa wanted to support Spain). Napoleon Bonaparte , who defeated the Republic of Genoa in 1797, came from Corsica, an island that Genoa had ruled badly and unrestrainedly exploited for a long time.
In addition to the sea consuls mentioned and the city fathers, known as Salvatores Portus et Moduli from the 14th century , there was a group of people who were of fundamental importance for the port of Genoa: the port workers and porters known as Camalli . In 1340 they formed the Compagnia dei Caravana guild , which existed for over 500 years. After the founding of the Socialist Party in Genoa in 1892, port workers' representations were established in the port, geared towards cargo handling, who fought for rights through strikes , which were recognized by the autonomous port consortium Consorzio Autonomo del Porto , founded in 1903 , and which were incorporated into the codified labor law . In 1946 these organizations merged to form the so-called Compagnia Unica .
In the course of the Restoration , the Republic of Genoa was not restored in 1814, but added to the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont , whose rulers from the House of Savoy Genoa had been hostile to Genoa for several centuries. Although the Piedmontese system of government and administration was not geared towards the needs of the Genoese maritime trade, the government in Turin tried to revitalize the port. Under Giorgio Des Geneys a navy was rebuilt there and a naval academy was established. From 1861 the fleet moved to La Spezia , the Academy to Livorno in 1881 .
Around 1820 the port of Genoa had dilapidated quays with piers that were too small, and the port basin was too shallow for contemporary ships. Mostly they anchored in the middle and were then loaded and unloaded with the help of barges , which made the port uneconomical. Between 1820 and 1860, not only was the port modernized and expanded, but the old town was also partially rebuilt and transport links improved. Particularly noteworthy is the construction of one of the first Italian dry docks, which was opened in 1851, as well as the siding connecting the port with Turin in 1854, with Lombardy in 1861 , with Ventimiglia and France in 1872 and with La Spezia and Tuscany in 1874 . However, the modernization efforts remained inadequate before and after the unification of Italy in 1861: compared to the port of Genoa, the port of Marseille received ten times as much government funding at the time. This circumstance prompted the Genoese nobleman Luigi Raffaele De Ferrari to make a very generous donation for which he received the Order of Announcements. Thanks to the donation and other government funds, it was possible to bring the port facilities to an appropriate level by the end of the century. As a result, the expansion work, which was also financed by German and British investors, did not keep up with the increasing cargo handling and the increasing number of passengers. The natural harbor soon no longer offered any expansion options, which is why an expansion in a westerly direction along the coast of Sampierdarena was considered. Significant factors for the positive development of the port were the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, which ended the isolation of the Mediterranean, and the massive waves of Italian emigration to America .
The town and port have been known for centuries for their idyllic location in a natural amphitheater formed by the surrounding Ligurian Apennines. The elongated hill or ridge of San Benigno, which formed the western part of the amphitheater and largely forced the city of Genoa into the eastern part of the bay, once lay between Genoa and the commune of Sampierdarena (formerly San Pier d'Arena ), which was independent until 1926 . The Lanterna lighthouse was once built on the isolated headland of the hill (Capo del Faro) . The Benedictine monastery of San Benigno was built on the hill in the 12th century , then a city wall (Mura nuove) in the 17th century and, in the middle of the 19th century , a very large barracks and coastal artillery on the site of the abandoned monastery . The port expansion work begun in a westerly direction included road and rail tunnels through the hill. Finally, the hill was largely removed in the 1920s and 1930s and the rock and earth used for the construction of the new industrial port around the Lanterna and in front of Sampierdarena as well as for the new Diga foranea pier . The last remains of the hill disappeared after the Second World War in the course of the reconstruction of the Cornigliano steelworks, the construction of the airport in Sestri Ponente and the construction of the oil port in Multedo.
During the Second World War , Genoa had to endure 86 bomber attacks , which seriously destroyed the city and made the port unusable. The port facilities were badly damaged, the port basin was badly mined and the port entrances were blocked by sunken ships. The reconstruction was tackled very energetically and the state also made considerable sums available despite the need, so that the war damage in the port had largely been eliminated by the end of 1948.
In 1969 the first container terminal in the Mediterranean was opened in Sampierdarena. A new coal terminal was built for the steel mill in Cornigliano. The steel crisis and the oil price crisis temporarily put an end to further expansion of the port . It was decided to further specialize the various port areas and preparations were made for the withdrawal of all industrial activities from the Porto Antico and its exclusive use for passenger and ferry traffic as well as for tourist purposes. In addition, the construction of the new container terminal in Pra 'and Voltri began. The reorganization of the port was completed in the so-called Columbus year 1992, i.e. 500 years after the discovery of America.
Accidents
On the night of May 7, 2013, a container ship, the Jolly Nero , rammed the 54 m high control tower of the port and caused it to collapse. Nine people died and another four were injured, some seriously.
Web links
- Official website of the port operator Ports of Genoa
- Historical outline of the port development and brief description of the terminals
- Genoa: The port in old views and travel reports on goethezeitportal.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c servizi.porto.genova.it Porto di Genova dati storici 2010–2016 (English). Accessed December 1, 2017.
- ↑ stazionimarittimegenova.com
- ↑ La Stampa, March 12, 2015
- ↑ ferpress.it, June 5, 2013
- ↑ ilsecoloxix.it, January 28, 2015
- ^ Istituto nautico San Giorgio
- ↑ Ship accident with nine dead: captain condemned
- ↑ ORF.at: "Inexplicable Tragedy" , accessed on May 8, 2013