How a Private 5G Network from WINDTRE BUSINESS Improved the Logistics of the Salerno Commercial Port
In port logistics, a terminal's capacity depends not only on available space but also on time. This is the idea behind the project that introduced a private 5G network into the Salerno Container Terminal, developed by WINDTRE BUSINESS in collaboration with the University of Naples Federico II. The goal is to make the daily operations of a port that handles hundreds of thousands of containers a year faster, safer, and more traceable.
Managed by the Gallozzi group, established in Salerno in 1952, the terminal is currently the third Italian port for connectivity index, following Genoa and La Spezia, with 20 weekly connections to major world markets. Capacity handling, observes Agostino Gallozzi, president of the Salerno Container Terminal, is typically assessed based on space alone, which is a misjudgment: "I cannot increase space; I can expand time," making operations conducted within a given time frame faster and more efficient. The competitiveness of a port hinges on this lever, the contraction of operational times. Additionally, the automation of processes, Gallozzi adds, requires "a vast highway meant for data exchange": for the terminal, that highway is 5G.
The scale of the issue is outlined by Michele Zaccaria, general manager of Salerno Container Terminal. In the last year, the port surpassed 420,000 TEUs of traffic, the measurement unit for containers, placing it among the main national ports. Each day, around 1,000 trucks pass through the gates, while at peak times, up to 200 workers are active, each responsible for a small part of a process that never stops, 24 hours a day. "We are a link in a very long chain that crosses the entire planet, and the measurement unit is time," explains Zaccaria. Service quality, and thus client feedback, depends on how quickly containers are unloaded, stored in yards, and reloaded.
A Private Network Instead of Dozens of Access Points
The technological contribution came from WINDTRE BUSINESS, which implemented a 5G Mobile Private Network in the terminal area: a fifth-generation mobile network dedicated to the client and distinct from the public one. The goal, explains Mario Conti, Local PA South of WINDTRE, is to address numerous technological issues within a complex and heterogeneous environment like the port with a single infrastructure. Access and exit gates, container handling, operator coordination, and security create a fragmentation that often leads to a lack of integration and interoperability. The private network aims to reassemble this, giving the end user full control and monitoring.
The most immediate comparison, emphasizes Conti, is with Wi-Fi, but the technologies are partially complementary. An access point covers a few dozen meters: to cover the entire port area would require hundreds if not thousands of devices to install, configure, and manage. With 5G, however, only an antenna and SIM cards are needed to enable communication across the area. Furthermore, Zaccaria points out an often-overlooked aspect: the shielding created by metal containers hindered communication via Wi-Fi, while with the private network, "the signal reaches every corner of the terminal."
At the heart of the system is the 5G Core, which WINDTRE BUSINESS installed directly on the customer's premises, in the data center near the antenna. For non-experts, explains Conti, it's comparable to a server: keeping it on-site reduces latency and ensures segregation, security, and reliability of data traffic, crucial requirements in a context where hundreds of vehicles access the area daily.
From Automatic Gates to Push-to-Talk
The network was designed as an innovation hub to converge different applications, and the experimentation began with two concrete cases. The first concerns the gates: high-definition cameras installed at the entrances send, through the antenna and the core network, video streams to applications that automatically recognize the vehicle's license plate number and the container's identification code. The information converges into navigable dashboards that provide the terminal with a real-time view of the gate status, a control that was previously entirely reliant on operators. For Zaccaria, this is the key point: reducing errors in container coding to near zero makes the entire process faster and more reliable.
The second use case, seemingly simpler, is the push-to-talk. An application has been installed on the devices provided to the operators that allows for instantaneous communications not just vocally, but also by sending files, images, and videos. The function of the old walkie-talkie moves into the smartphone connected to the private 5G network, reducing the number of devices to manage and allowing for real-time communication of operational information among individuals needing constant coordination.
A Field Laboratory, Not Just an Infrastructure
The project originated within the MOST, the National Center for Sustainable Mobility, one of five large research centers funded by the PNRR, organized with a hub-and-spoke structure. Vittorio Marzano, a professor at the Federico II University and Spoke Leader, coordinates Spoke 10, dedicated to goods transport and logistics, under whose direction the university led the experimentation. For Marzano, the value lies not just in the infrastructure: the collaboration between academia and industry has translated into "a field laboratory" that remains available to universities and research centers for new activities, acting as an accelerator for technology transfer as well as an operational tool for the terminal.
There is also a broader interpretation. Marzano recalls that in the transport sector, uncertainty drives many companies to focus on daily operations at the expense of strategic vision. A terminal capable of investing in a trial of this kind goes against the trend. For Salerno Container Terminal, the 5G private network is not an isolated intervention but the first piece of a broader technological design, where operational efficiency, environmental sustainability (less vehicle stops, fewer emissions), and economic competitiveness of the port proceed together. The platform is ready, and the use cases to build upon are many more than the two currently active.