Hili plans more investment for Venice terminal

Marin Hili, chairman of Terminal Intermodale Venezia, a terminal in the port of Venice, yesterday said he planned to invest $10 million "to refine the general cargo handling side of the terminal."

Another $10 million have already been invested since the terminal was bought in July last year, to introduce modern container handling facilities.

Terminal Intermodale Venezia is owned by Mr Hili's company Mariner SpA, and Marinvest Srl, a company owned by Gianluigi Aponte, who owns the Mediterranean Shipping Company Ltd, which has the second largest container shipping fleet in the world.

The Venice terminal has just opened its doors to container business in mid-May with a call from a container ship from the Mediterranean Shipping Company.

The news that the terminal in the port of Venice has started handling containers found its way into the influential shipping journal Lloyds List.

Lloyds List reported that MSE would make four calls to the port every week, involving some 400 container movements per vessel.

MSE accounts for half of the trade in the port of Venice "and its move to Terminal Intermodale Venezia has enabled the terminal to get off to a flying start in the container handling business," Lloyds List said.

The Times yesterday reported that Terminal Intermodale Venezia had reported a brisk start to new container handling operations, taking over half the business of a competing terminal within the same port.

Terminal Intermodale Venezia SpA, previously used to concentrate on general cargo and still has some of the best facilities for the shipment of large cargo.

"Our prime goal is to consolidate the terminal's position as a key platform from which to service and build fully fledged logistics services over an expanding hinterland," Mr Hili told Lloyds List.

The Venice port is the leader in the Adriatic for container traffic, and in 2002 handled 262,000 TEUs (containers).

Mariner also owns a terminal in Riga, Latvia, which is run by the Baltic Container terminal company.