Savona master plan

The port of Savona

The port of Savona has a new master plan for development. It is designed to accelerate the existing infrastructure improvement programme. This includes an upgrade of the on-site direct road and rail links between the port and the city, a new Simplified Logistics Zone in Vado Ligure, promotion of environmentally sustainable operations in the port (coastal defence and management, flood defence works, restructuring and completion of the funicular cable car between the port and Cairo Montenotte, installation of rooftop solar panels across the Port of Savona, new electric-powered cargo handling equipment, new cranes, energy transition), plus redevelopment of the waterfront and a new breakwater.

The port of Savona is located at the Ligurian coast and is part of the “Ports of Genoa” system.

Regulary framework for unmanned inland waterway vessels

The Autoship project, funded in part under the EU’s Horizon programme, works towards autonomous short-sea and inland navigation. Besides many technological aspects, the project also assessed the impacts on organization and legislation around inland waterways. With the Rhine being Europe’s foremost inland waterway, any introduction of unmanned vessels would have impacts on the Rhine-Alpine corridor. The project’s assessment can be found here (external link).

“Electric Autobahn” featured in New York Times

Truck for electric highway. ©Scania

To reduce the ecological footprint of truck traffic, one of the currently competing technological alternatives is the “electric highway”. Overhead wires above the right lane of the most frequented highways. In Germany, establishing electric sections on just 4,000 km of the Autobahn would allow a majority of all long distance truck traffic to go electric, if combined with truck batteries. A test track is currently operating in the Rhine-Alpine corridor south of Frankfurt.

The New York Times has recently published a report on the technology and the test track. It answers the most common questions on technology and operation. The article can be found here (external link). It is behind a paywall, but the newspaper allows for a few free articles per month.