Puerto, ciudades y oportunidades de trabajo

During the past years several structural economic changes occurred in port operations. The shift of port organisation from labour based to capital based investments has created several unsolved problems for the local communities that are experiencing increasing – direct and indirect – costs and a reduction of the perceived benefits in hosting a port. In this scenario, labour in Italian port cities is becoming a major problem mainly because of the de-localization of major traditional port-related activities. The current paper focuses on the discussion of potential industrial sectors that may become strategic for the future of the port cities: the sea economy activities. These industries are not strictly related to the ports but harbours may be strategic in order to gain a competitive advantage to vie with the other provinces. Statistical data from national organisations (e.g. UnionCamere) and statistical institutions (e.g. ISTAT) are used in order to understand the trend of the port provinces in competing in these new markets. At the end of the paper policy and strategic ideas are proposed. Durante los últimos años se han producido diversos cambios económicos de carácter estructural en los puertos italianos. La transformación de la organización del puerto desde un sistema basado en el trabajo a un sistema basado en las inversiones en capital, ha creado una serie de problemas no resueltos para las comunidades locales que están soportando un incremento de los costes directos e indirectos así como una reducción de los beneficios anejos a la actividad portuaria. En este escenario, el empleo en las ciudades portuarias se está convirtiendo en un problema debido a la deslocalización de las principales actividades relacionadas con el puerto. El objetivo de este artículo es el análisis de los potenciales sectores industriales que pueden llegar a tener un carácter estratégico para el futuro de las ciudades portuarias: las actividades de la economía del mar. Estas industrias no están estrictamente relacionadas con los puertos pero los puertos pueden tener un papel estratégico para ganar competitividad en relación con otras provincias. Se utilizan datos estadísticos de organizaciones nacionales (por ejemplo UnionCamere) y organismos estadísticos (por ejemplo ISTAT) para discernir la tendencia de las provincias portuarias a la hora de competir en estos nuevos mercados. Finalmente, se proponen un conjunto de recomendaciones sobre la adopción de diversas políticas y estrategias.During the past years several structural economic changes occurred in port operations. The shift of port organisation from labour based to capital based investments has created several unsolved problems for the local communities that are experiencing increasing – direct and indirect – costs and a reduction of the perceived benefits in hosting a port. In this scenario, labour in Italian port cities is becoming a major problem mainly because of the de-localization of major traditional port-related activities. The current paper focuses on the discussion of potential industrial sectors that may become strategic for the future of the port cities: the sea economy activities. These industries are not strictly related to the ports but harbours may be strategic in order to gain a competitive advantage to vie with the other provinces. Statistical data from national organisations (e.g. UnionCamere) and statistical institutions (e.g. ISTAT) are used in order to understand the trend of the port provinces in competing in these new markets. At the end of the paper policy and strategic ideas are proposed