Green light has been given to the Hamburg-based group for taking over 50.01% of the Piattaforma Logistica Trieste (PLT), a 27 ha-big terminal within the Port of Trieste.

Under the new name of HHLA PLT Italy, apart from taking care of general cargo and providing logistics services, the company is being developed to handle wheeled (ro-ro) and containerized freight, too.

To that end a 35 m-wide ro-ro ramp has been put in place along with the first out of two mobile harbour cranes for transshipping containers (the second will come online in the first quarter of 2021). In addition, four more reachstackers will join the existing fleet.

"We are delighted that the purchase of the majority stake has now been completed. At the contract signing in Trieste on September 28 last year, our commitment at the Adriatic port was met with great approval, especially from Italy," Angela Titzrath, Chairwoman of HHLA's Executive Board, commented.

She added, "Since then, a team from HHLA International has been working intensively on integrating the Trieste terminal facility into the HHLA Group. Together with our Italian partners and our motivated workforce, we want to expand HHLA PLT Italy to become an important southern hub within our port and intermodal network."

Francesco Parisi, CEO of the Francesco Parisi Group, a co-shareholder of HHLA PLT Italy, also said, "We are very glad to now have HHLA on board. This provides PLT and the Port of Trieste with a very exciting perspective of growth. We are grateful to HHLA for the strong support given to PLT already in the past months. This is a great incentive to work hard together to make it a success story."

Photo: HHLA/Maxar Technologies/TerraMetrics/Google