Resumen
The MEDNET project ?Mediterranean Network for Custom Procedures and Simplification of Clearance in Ports? funded by the MED programme (2007?2013), was aimed to establish and operate anetwork of port authorities and experts focusing on the exchange of experiences concerning ports and customs procedures and simplification of clearance for vessels and cargoes. Rete Autostrade Mediterranee (RAM), lead partner of the project, has implemented apilot action focused on the analysis of technical and legislative characteristics of the Directive 2010/65/EU on ?Reporting formalities for ships arriving in and/or departing from ports of the Member States?, its status of implementation in Italy, possible scenarios for integrating and upscaling existing Port Management Information System (PMIS) and National Single Window (NSW) prototyping in Italy, Cost-Benefit analysis (CBA) for re-engineering existing Port Community Systems (PCSs) in the port of Venice and Levante (Bari) to fulfil reporting formalities according with the EU Directive. In the analysis carried out in the two ports (the selected case studies), the CBA evidenced the huge amount of potential benefits for the logistic chain triggered by the decrease of dwell time for containers in ports, through reengineering of the existing PCSs within the envisage NSW framework. Dwell time is then crucial for the definition of scenarios of port competitiveness and benchmarking, since it may be largely reduced by the implementation of pre-clearing procedures. Pre-clearing (?anticipated electronic customs clearance?) is able to speeding up of formalities and the consequent relieving of port traffic congestion. The simplification of customs procedures may result in significant benefits for the door-to-door transport time and costs. This aspect has clearly emerged together with lack of top-down information by the two Port Authorities on dwell time. CBA indicators are very positive for both ports and demonstrate how the re-engineering of PCSs in Venice and Bari is expected to lead to abig amount of net benefits. Dwell time is astrategic Key Performance Indicators (KPI) for ports (both for public and private stakeholders), often very difficult to calculate due to confidentiality issues as well as being pre-clearing procedure just testing in some ports in Italy. Nevertheless, acustomized survey at the two ports among local stakeholders (e.g. customs forwarders, freight forwarders, etc.) is deemed necessary and recommended. Despite of the information and data gathering activities implemented at the two Port Authorities, the aforementioned integrative survey should enable to boost CBA results. Key recommendations for ensuring the Italy's NSW compliance with the Directive 2010/65/EU: a) Setting enabling legal framework for the NSW development; b) Setting functional and technical specifications and testing for the NSW development; c)Identification of core business processes for the NSW development; d) National consultation and working groups activities with public and private stakeholders; e) Reengineering and upscaling of PCSs for their interoperability with the NSW; f) Setting high-level (medium-long timeframe) master plan for the NSW full deployment.