Digital transition and cargo: the final event of the FENIX project at Malpensa

30/03/2023

This morning at Malpensa Terminal 1, SEA hosted the final event of the FENIX Project – The Italian Rhine Alpine Pilot Site – organized to show the results of the pilot project and discuss the challenges and opportunities related to digitalization in the Italian air-cargo sector.
FENIX (FEderated Network of Information eXchange in Logistics), in which SEA is involved, is a European project – co-funded in the framework of CEF (Connecting Europe Facility) program – which aims to develop the first federated architecture for data sharing at the service of the actors of the logistics chains operating on the nodes and on the arcs of the European TEN-T (trans-European transport) networks – shippers, logistics service providers, mobility infrastructure providers, cities and authorities – to offer them interoperability between any existing and future single platform.
The FENIX project has a remarkably significant budget, which amounts to about 60 million euros, with an EU funding share equal to 50%, and involves the participation of 43 beneficiaries, including SEA, which, through the pilot presented today, has invested about 1.5 million euros over the past three years towards the development of new applications integrated into the Smart City of Goods digital ecosystem, the information exchange platform that has been operating for some years at Malpensa.
With the key contribution of FENIX, the new applications will allow the digitalization of air-cargo processes, involving all the operators in the logistics chain and covering all the main operational areas of the supply chain (road transport and land-side airport operations, air-side airport operations, customs procedures).
Furthermore, the applications developed are scalable and interoperable and can be made available to all Italian airports in line with the objectives of the NRRP, to the benefit of the digital and sustainable transition of national air-cargo.
The digitalization of air-cargo processes is one of the levers to make Malpensa airport increasingly attractive, enabling a faster transit of goods, greater efficiency for operators and leaner logistics processes, to consolidate the leadership in the Italian air-cargo market and to bridge the gap with the main European cargo hubs.
Malpensa Cargo, with about 721 thousand tons of cargo managed in 2022, is the first cargo airport in Italy, with a market share of 65%, and ranks fifth in Europe.
The program of the event, which was opened by SEA’s CEO Armando Brunini, included two main sessions.
The first one, "Malpensa Use Case", saw the participation of Francesco Raschi - SEA’s Cargo and Real Estate Director, Paolo Dallanoce – SEA’s Cargo Manager and other experts such as Professor Mauro Dell'Amico of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Nathan Goethals - Project Coordinator Air Cargo Belgium and Juste Zvirblyte of the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA).
The second session was dedicated to the "Digital transition of cargo processes in Italian airports". Prominent personalities in the sector, including Ivano Russo - CEO RAM Spa, Monica Piccirillo - Director of the Malpensa Airport Management ENAC, Valentina Menin - General Manager of ASSAEROPORTI, Alessandro Albertini - President of ANAMA and Luciano Neri - Secretary General of IBAR, discussed the strategies and innovations related to digitalization in the air-cargo sector.
The event ended with a Q&A session, followed by the conclusions of Professor Ennio Cascetta, moderator of the meeting.
More about FENIX

• In Italy there are 20 project partners, including Milan MXP Cargo City, Port of Genoa-La Spezia, Interporto di Novara, Università degli Studi di Genova, Autorità di Sistema Portuale del Mar Ligure Orientale, Circle, Links Foundation, Interporto di Bologna, Port Authority of Trieste, Interporto di Trieste, Politecnico di Bari and other logistics operators, engaged in 2 pilots.
• The pilot activities that involve SEA (The Italian Rhine Alpine pilot site) are coordinated by the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (through the ICOOR inter-university research center).
• All the Italian partners function as an "implementing body" on behalf of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport which acts as a direct beneficiary of the European Commission and manages about 33% of the total budget of FENIX.
• The digitalization of services is a key element for increasing the productivity of the system: thanks to these projects we hope to obtain a significant increase in the capacity of the Cargo City (between 10 and 15%) keeping the same infrastructure, for the benefit of the sustainability of the Air-Cargo logistics chain.