TRIESTE, 17 March 2026
Construction crews broke ground Monday on a €340 million expansion of Trieste's Porto Vecchio industrial zone, marking the largest single infrastructure investment in the city since 2018. Regional Commissioner Elena Mazzini confirmed the timeline during a press briefing at Piazza Unità d'Italia, stating that initial earthworks would continue through autumn.
The project, spanning roughly 28 hectares of reclaimed waterfront land, will add three deep-water berths capable of handling post-Panamax vessels. Reinforced concrete piling began last week near Molo VII. Workers are driving steel sheet piles to a depth of 22 metres before pouring the cast-in-place foundations that will support two container gantry cranes. According to figures that could not be independently verified, the Friuli Venezia Giulia Regional Statistics Office estimates the expansion could generate 1,400 permanent jobs once operational. Local fishermen, meanwhile, have raised concerns about dredging activity near their traditional grounds off Barcola. Our correspondents in Trieste observed heavy machinery arriving daily along Strada Costiera, where temporary traffic diversions have frustrated commuters for the past fortnight.
When we spoke with Marco Devetak, site foreman for lead contractor Adriatica Costruzioni, he described the logistical challenges of coordinating subcontractors across multiple work fronts. Scaffolding suppliers, rebar fabricators, and precast element manufacturers are all converging on a tight schedule dictated by tidal windows for marine piling. The Italian Federation of Building Contractors recently flagged a nationwide shortage of skilled formwork carpenters, a bottleneck that Devetak admitted could slow progress. Still, he remained cautiously optimistic. Project planners have built two months of float into the critical path, he noted, though the timeline remains unclear beyond the first phase. A bora wind warning last Thursday halted crane operations for six hours, a reminder of the region's unpredictable weather.
Financial backing comes from a mix of European Regional Development Fund grants and private equity coordinated through Cassa Depositi e Prestiti. Port Authority officials expect the first berth to accept commercial traffic by late 2028. Nearby, an auxiliary transit shed will employ cross-laminated timber trusses, a nod to environmental certification targets under the EU taxonomy. Older residents recall when these same docks handled Austro-Hungarian merchant fleets over a century ago. Whether the revamped facility can compete with Koper and Rijeka for Adriatic shipping dominance is a question analysts continue to debate.