Vehicle components and finished vehicles produced for export by the Iveco Group, the largest Italian manufacturer of industrial and commercial vehicles, transit through PSA Italy’s terminals in Genoa. We talked about this with Riccardo Franzoni, Worldwide Logistic Services & Contracting Ocean, Air, Manager.

The sector

Italy has a long tradition in the production of professional vehicles. The automotive sector represents 10% of the national GDP, and a substantial part is constituted by the sector making commercial vehicles, trucks and buses. About one million vehicles of all types are manufactured in Italy each year. Of these, almost 40% is represented by vans and trucks, both light and heavy-duty, and public transport vehicles.

With the negative trend during the pandemic now in the past, this sector is now picking up speed worldwide aided by the growing trend in E-commerce. Therefore, the demand in the logistics sector, and consequently for commercial vehicles, has seen a sharp upturn: Italian exports have risen by 36.25% in 2021 compared to 2020, despite the fact that the crisis in semiconductors and increase in the price of raw materials are slowing down deliveries across the world.

The company

Iveco Group N.V. is a global leader in the automotive industry, active in the sectors Commercial and Special Vehicles, Powertrain and correlated Financial Services. Each of its eight brands is a key player within its specific industrial sphere: IVECO, a pioneering make of commercial vehicles that designs, manufactures and sells heavy-duty, medium and light commercial vehicles; FPT Industrial, global leader in the supply of a vast range of advanced propulsion technologies for the agricultural, construction, nautical, energy generation, and commercial vehicles sectors; IVECO BUS and HEULIEZ, brands of urban, interurban and tourist buses for mass and premium transport; Iveco Defence Vehicles, highly specialised vehicles for defence and civil defence; ASTRA, leader in large heavy-duty vehicles for quarries and building sites; MAGIRUS, renowned maker of fire-fighting vehicles and equipment; and IVECO CAPITAL, the financial branch, which supports the Iveco Group brands.

The group employs about 34,000 people world-wide and has 28 factories and 29 Research & Development centres.

The main IVECO factories in Italy are situated in Brescia, where the Eurocargo lorry is manufactured, and in Suzzara (Mantova) where the Daily van is made, while the FPT Industrial factories are situated in Turin and Foggia.

In recent years, the Italian constructor has made a substantial investment in the sustainability of heavy transport: the future is called Nikola Tre, a heavy-duty electric vehicle based on the IVECO S-WAY heavy-duty truck made in collaboration with the American Nikola Corporation. This is a zero emissions vehicle particularly suitable for port operations, in fact, it has already been chosen by the port of Hamburg to become part of its service fleet.

PSA Italy for Iveco Group

A very substantial number of Iveco Group vehicles transit through the PSA terminals on a daily basis transporting containers for loading or that have been unloaded. Given the global horizons of this Italian group, PSA Italy represents a direct partner in Iveco’s import and export activities.

The logistic flow of cargo from the warehouse to the final client or factories around the world, depending on whether components or finished vehicles, may involve passage via the logistic hub at Villanova d’Asti and transport to the port of departure, which is usually Genova, via a carrier.

Over the next few months, the IVECO Group, through its various brands, will continue to move thousands of TEUs from Italy to Brazil, which represents the main export flow, followed by Argentina, Australia, Tunisia, China and Saudi Arabia.

As regards imports, a flow of vehicle components is foreseen, in particular motor parts from China and Brazil, which over the last two years has intensified in order to increase stocks so as to avoid problems relating to the lengthening of transit time.

The vicinity of the PSA Italy terminals to the IVECO Group’s logistics hub at Villanova d’Asti makes them the optimal choice for the Group’s import/export activities, from the moment that shipments via Genova benefit from the shortest route for reaching Europe, South America, the Middle East and the Far East.