Ports and terminals

The Firm’s professionals ‒ also thanks to their constant participation in working groups of public bodies and entities operating in the field ‒ have acquired extensive expertise in assisting and advising clients on a wide range of port issues both out of court and in the litigation phase before the competent administrative Courts.

The Firm has been assisting port authorities, concessionaires of port services, terminal operators, enterprises and private market players at every stage of the development and management of ports, terminals and related services.

In particular, the Firm has recently advised clients on transactions for the acquisition of shares of terminal operating companies, on competition, port planning, safety, environmental impact, employment contracts and tax collection.

Recent work includes:

• we regularly provide out-of-court advice ‒ including contract drafting ‒ and Court representation, to concessionaires of port services, terminal operators, companies operating in the field of ROV and offshore services etc.;
• we regularly and successfully assist port terminal operators under art. 16 and 18 of Law no. 84/1994 in the preparation of applications for the concession of maritime property and advance use providing specific advice in the related administrative procedures
• we have provided assistance to an ATI (i.e. a temporary consortium of contractors) in placing the successful bid in the call for tender issued by the Port Authority of one of the most important Italian ports for the concession for the planning, building and decades-long management of a logistics platform stretching over approximately 120,000 sqm, by providing support up to the conclusion of the contract with the contract awarding body;

• we have represented a leading company in the field of maritime structures in the dispute with a subcontractor concerning dredging works performed in one of the main Italian ports;

• we have assisted port authorities in handling issues such as the expiry of state property concessions or the exercise of planning powers, also in the litigation phase;

• we have assisted a port terminal under art. 16 and 18 of the Law no. 84/1994 for the purpose of preparing an appeal before the Court in order to request the urgent inhibition of unfair competitive conduct put in place by a concessionaire company of a port terminal through the publication of an illegitimate call for tenders concerning the assignment of the “operation” service (that is the unloading and treatment of the coal batches which arrive by ship at the port, destined to supply a well-known thermoelectric power plant);

• we have successfully represented several marina owning enterprises in Court disputes against Public Institutions, aimed at affirming the private nature of their dry docks and at challenging the Public Institutions’ demand to have them classified as state property;

• we have provided advice and represented several enterprises ‒ which have buildings under concession in port areas ‒ in disputes against Agenzia del Territorio (i.e. the Italian Land Registry Office) aimed at ascertaining the illegality of the new cadastral classifications, and against Municipalities to obtain the annulment of the ICI (council property tax) payment requests, the amounts of which were determined based on those unlawful cadastral classifications;

• we have advised a port terminal operator company pursuant to art. 16 of the Law no. 84/1994 in order to identify the conditions under which the concessionaire pursuant to art. 18, Law no. 84/1994 can avail itself, for the performance of part of the activities object of its concession, of a company in possession of the authorization provided for by the art. 16, Law no. 84/1994;

• we have assisted a leading terminal operator in filing the application with the Port Authority and obtaining the concession of a port terminal for the performance of the whole cycle of port operations, also advising on the drafting and review of the relevant employment contracts

• we have provided advice to a company, holder of a concession for the construction and management of a marina, regarding the verification of the possible existence of the obligation to notify the concession-granting Authority of the changes in the corporation structure and the subjective variation of the managers of the concessionaire, including the consequences in case of non-compliance with this obligation, with particular reference to the legislation on anti-mafia documentation.