CRITICAL ISSUES IN MANAGING PORT SECURITY ACROSS EU: EVIDENCE FROM ITALY

After seven years, complete and detailed regulations on security have been issued world-wide, it is worth to assess the financial advantages brought by the increased security in the services offered by ports. The noteworthy financial resources used to conform port security to the ISPS Code standards are an interesting starting point to analyze the problem of competitive gap among ports, originating from the different ways these funds were raised by the States. The spread of international port security programmes, proposed by the USA, has not only increased this gap, but turned security risks in actual business risks. In such a scenario, it is worth to investigate how security influences the competition among ports, analyzing the approach to this topic from the perspectives of port management and governance and of the most competitive States world-wide. In such contexts, a pro-active port management capable of enhancing all those factors, including security, is necessary because such factors are able of increasing the attractiveness of a port. This article proposes the case of Rotterdam as a best practice, not only to demonstrate all competitive benefits stemming from an increased security of services being offered, but also to identify useful guidelines for minor ports willing to enhance security. Presenting the case of the Italian port system, we will show how such guidelines are useful to achieve the above-mentioned goal and offer the possibility of reaching a double outcome: economic growth of the single ports and reduction of the competitive gap between major and minor ports in a EU context.