Italia-Croatia

11/11/2025

The TRANSPONEXT project has reached a major milestone with the publication of two foundational reports: the "Assessment of territorial challenges and needs for the territory of Italy" (D.1.1.2) and the "Assessment of territorial challenges and needs for the territory of Croatia" (D.1.1.3)".

These documents, developed under Work Package 1 "Supporting greener transport options by defining cross-border strategy and action plan" , provide the comprehensive analysis and strategic groundwork for all future project activities.

Both reports offer a detailed analysis of the current transport landscape in the Italy-Croatia Programme Area. The assessments map existing intermodal connections - including maritime, road, and rail networks - to identify critical infrastructure bottlenecks, territorial challenges, and limitations.

Each report also includes:

• An assessment of the environmental performance of existing transport systems.
• A thorough stakeholder mapping to identify the key actors in the region's transport sector.
• A detailed SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) to guide future strategy.

While both territories benefit from strategic port locations on major TEN-T corridors, the reports identify distinct and shared challenges that TRANSPONEXT aims to address.

• For Italy, the analysis highlights the advanced infrastructure of ports like Trieste, Venice, and Bari. However, it also pinpoints significant weaknesses, such as inefficiencies in "last-mile" rail and road connections to these hubs and coordination issues in high-traffic zones.
• For Croatia, the assessment confirms the strategic importance of the ports of Rijeka, Ploče, and Split. It identifies major challenges in the national railway network, including a high prevalence of single-track lines and insufficient electrification. A lack of fully developed intermodal terminals is also noted as a key barrier to seamless transport integration.

Both reports confirm that road transport is the primary source of greenhouse gas emissions in the transport sector. This finding reinforces the core mission of TRANSPONEXT: to promote a significant shift of freight from roads to more sustainable modes like rail and sea transport.

These in-depth assessments are the essential building blocks for the project's next phase. The findings will be used directly to develop the cross-border strategy and action plan, which will guide the implementation of new, greener, and more efficient transport solutions across the Adriatic.

We invite all project partners, policymakers, industry professionals, and the public to explore these vital reports. You can find them in our library.