Port of Trieste

The Free Port of Trieste is a port in the Adriatic Sea in Trieste, Italy.

It is subdivided into 5 different Free Areas, 3 of which have been allotted to commercial activities. The remaining two, the Mineral Oils Free Area and the “Canale di Zaule” Free Area, are used for industrial activities. The port is articulated in various terminals, managed by private companies.

In the period between the beginning of 1700 and 1850, Trieste was mainly an emporium and was given the status of Free Port by Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor in 1719. In 1740, when Empress Maria Theresa of Austria took power, one of the first measures she adopted was to extend the borders of the Free Port area to the periphery of the town, thereby merging the emporium, the port, the new city and the old one. The Empress decided to extend the exemptions from customs duties to the whole city, which attracted many people from different countries and all walks of life (Italians, Serbians, Slovenians, Croats, Jews and Greeks): for them a law was passed, the "Editto di tolleranza", which provided for the freedom of worship, the possibility to negotiate freely and to own goods.

In the 1770s and 1880s, the Trieste Company (sometimes known as the "Austrian East India Company") attempted to connect directly the Habsburg Empire to the Indian and Chinese markets.

It appeared that it was necessary to enlarge the port infrastructure and the railway network. In 1857 the Südbahn (Southern) Railway line became operational along the northeastern route: Trieste, Postojna, Ljubljana, Graz, Vienna, with further links to Budapest and the Balkans. The railway element was central in the design of the port structures. In Trieste it was the Lagerhäuser system of Northern European ports that was used as a model. A French engineer, Paulin Talabot, designed the project. 1868 marks the beginning of Trieste as a commercial port whose infrastructures were to be developed in four different periods. To tackle the competition of Northern ports, which had been able to attract trade because of the lack of railway connections with Trieste, and to adjust to the needs of non-European maritime transport, which was to increase after the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 - with the consequent shortening of the distance separating Trieste from Bombay by 7,500 miles - in 1868 the construction of the current Porto Vecchio (the Old Port, at the time called Porto Nuovo, the New Port) was started. The Northern part of the port was built between 1868 and 1883 together with the outer breakwater and other sea infrastructure.

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