The president of the Port Authority, Daniele Rossi, however, excludes any risk and the presence of deposits.
After the terrifying explosion a few days ago in Beirut whose images have traveled the world, even in Ravenna some are worried about the hypothesis of the presence of ammonium nitrate deposits at the port. Doubt denied by the president of the Port Authority, Daniele Rossi, who affirms that the aforementioned deposits do not exist in Ravenna and reassures the citizens on how to maneuver this material in the Ravenna port area.
Below we report the question of Ravenna in the Municipality to the Mayor of Ravenna to ask for reassurance regarding the absence of risks for ammonium nitrate at the port of Ravenna.
“In Beirut the port and half the city have come down. More than 150 dead but still missing. Much like the port of Tianjin in China five years ago. Fewer victims in Athens, Greece, West, Texas, and Toulouse, France, respectively in 2014, 2013 and 2001. In fact, the ports are the places where the ammonium nitrate exploded did the most damage: before of Beirut and Tientsin had touched Texas City, in 1947, with over 400 deaths. Therefore it is certain that ammonium nitrate is dangerous and that its presence in a port is in itself a risk factor, especially if there are combustible substances in the same port.
Ravenna has a port and fertilizers are one of the product categories it handles. Almost 800,000 tons in the past six months. Indeed, it is one of the very few categories that have not been affected by the deep red in which the port traffic has sunk this year. Ammonium nitrate is a fertilizer. Are you present in Ravenna? In Il Sole24Ore (“Ammonium nitrate, in Italy the rules are strict”, page 16) Rossi, president of the Ravenna Port Authority but also of the Association that groups the Italian ports, he excludes it: “As far as I know there are no ammonium nitrate deposits in Italian ports.”
As far as we know, however, in Ravenna, ammonium nitrate is one of the historical products. Since the 1950s of the last century, in fact, represents the main activity of a factory that was then owned by ANIC and now belongs to the Italian branch of a Norwegian multinational, Wound. It can count on one of the historic docks of the port of Ravenna, recently included among those to be modernized with a specific funding just decided by the Ministry (as per the information issued by Rossi himself). It is located in the petrochemical complex where there is no shortage of combustible substances.
Without making unnecessary alarms, we believe there is enough to ask the Mayor of Ravenna for further reassurance regarding the absence of risks for the population at first glance, the affirmation of the President of the port authority does not appear to be founded. Il Sole24Ore reminds us that we have “Seveso III (in application of the EU directive number 2012/18, implemented in Italy with Legislative Decree 105 of 2015), which is a consolidated act on the control of the danger of major industrial accidents for the use of dangerous substances. Ispra (Higher Institute for Environmental Protection and Research) and the Ministry of the Environment have identified 995 plants in Italy likely to create major accidents (520 more at risk and 475 of a lower threshold), which are subject to Seveso controls ».
We therefore ask the Mayor to urgently report on the inclusion or not of Yara (or others who deal with this product within the Ravenna area) among the sites subject to “Seveso” controls and, if so, prompt information on the inspections that should have been carried out in accordance with the provisions of “Seveso” (art. 27) “.
As reported in the Corriere Romagna, Daniele Rossi (president of the Port Authority) denies the existence of ammonium nitrate deposits in the port of Ravenna and that its presence is limited to fast operations during which it is maneuvered in full compliance with regulations in force regarding the safety of workers and citizens.
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