Every year, 74,000 containers travel between Livorno and the East Coast of the United States, 30,000 of which come from New York, making New York Livorno’s principal trading partner, with almost 30 percent of the total annual container traffic to and from the port of Livorno.
Representatives of Livorno’s port authority recently travelled to New York to reinforce the existing trade partnership and discuss further trade opportunities.
Head of publicity and external relations for the Livorno port authority Gabriele Gargiulo and staff members Francesco Ghio and Roberto Lippi met with New York port authority officials Robert Lamura and Bethann Rooney to update their respective authorities’ memorandum of understanding, signed in 2000. Among the issues to be addressed in updating the 13-year-old document is security, an issue of considerable interest and sensitivity in the United States.
In commenting on the meeting, Gargiulo stated that, ‘Today we have shown that the Port of Livorno is still able to play an important role as far as business is concerned between the two countries. We have strengthened cooperation with the New York port authority and with international operators, and we have laid the foundations to revitalize trading with America.’
The meeting was organized by the port authority of Livorno with Toscana Promozione, the Tuscan port authorities (Piombino, Livorno and Marina Carrara) and the Chamber of Commerce of Livorno and Carrara.
