TAL GROUP CELEBRATES HALF A CENTURY OF ACTIVITY
Trieste, 13 April 2017 – On 13 April 1967 the oil tanker Daphnella berthed in the Marine Terminal of Siot: the crude oil was unloaded and stored in the Tank Farm in San Dorligo della Valle, waiting for the first transfer to German refineries through the Transalpine Pipeline.
Fifty years after that historical moment – that was a true innovation for Central European energy supply systems, guaranteeing the economic development of South Germany, Austria and more recently of the Czech Republic – TAL Group has held a press conference today at the Marine Terminal, together with the Port Authority and the Corps of Harbour Master.
In 50 years TAL Group has transported over 1.4 billion tonnes of crude oil, pumping it through the pipeline: from the first ship 50 years ago until 31st March this year 19,154 tankers berthed in the Marine Terminal.
In 2016, five hundred ships arrived carrying a total of 41.3 million tonnes of crude oil and set the record of crude oil transported in one year: around 41.4 million tonnes. With a turnover of 86.7 million euros, SIOT is the main terminal operator of the Port of Trieste with over 70% of traffic, and it is an important economic resource for Trieste and Friuli Venezia Giulia region.
“TAL Group – said General Manager of TAL Group and Chief Executive Officer of SIOT, Alessio Lilli – has transported energy for 50 years: Austria, Czech Republic and Germany use the oil that comes from Trieste every day as energy resource feeding central European refineries. The Transalpine Pipeline started working in 1967: a European engineering work, built in only one thousand days, when geopolitics used to draw borders and the economies of continental states were incompatible: Economy, Finance and Engineering, half a century ago, were able to anticipate the geopolitical future and build a connection and integration bridge between Friuli Venezia Giulia, Austria and Bavaria.
Today the TAL Group Pipeline supplies 100% of the energy needs of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, 90% Austria and about 50% Czech Republic and is the real example of the farsighted international collaboration that has merged economies, knowledge and cultures”.
