Page 113 - Mellinato, Giulio, and Aleksander Panjek. Eds. 2022. Complex Gateways. Labour and Urban History of Maritime Port Cities: The Northern Adriaticin a Comparative Perspective. Koper: University of Primorska Press.
P. 113
Trieste 1948–1952: A Contended Port City and the Marshall Plan
governments to a sequence of diplomatic moves, aimed both at securing
the Allied position locally, and at extending the Western influence over
the entire area. The first step was the Italian Peace Treaty, where a spe-
cific clause was dedicated to the international status of the Trieste port
activities.
The Instrument of the Free Port of Trieste (Annex VIII) establishes
the Free Port, free of customs, ‘in order to ensure that the port and
transit facilities of Trieste will be available for use on equal terms
by all international trade and by Yugoslavia, Italy, and the States
of Central Europe.’ The Instrument binds the Free Territory and the
signatory countries through whose territories the Free Port’s traffic
passes to facilitate the movement of this traffic and not to apply any
discriminatory measures against it (Unger 1947).
When a new set of opportunities presented itself in the form of an
autonomous participation in the European Recovery Program, the AMG
officials immediately interpreted it as a game changer. With only one
move, participation in the Marshall Plan could solve several problems:
an immediate solution for the financial difficulties and the anchoring of
the Trieste economy (with the entire city following) to the Western field.
At the same time, the Allied government had the opportunity to build up
some key mechanisms, in order to control the social and political discon-
tent inside the administered area.
In this sense, the relative percentage of landings out of the total port
movement in the post-war years is more significant than absolute data.
Table 6.1: Port of Trieste 1945–1948. Goods loaded and unloaded
(Addobbati 1968, 130).
Years Unload Load Total
% % %
1945 92 8
1946 96 4 100
1947 84 16 100
1948 79 21 100
100
During the early years of the post-war period, the ‘resource’ port,
so to speak, had its primary use entirely within the allied logics aimed
at a stable settlement of Central Europe, in terms of a direct control of
113
governments to a sequence of diplomatic moves, aimed both at securing
the Allied position locally, and at extending the Western influence over
the entire area. The first step was the Italian Peace Treaty, where a spe-
cific clause was dedicated to the international status of the Trieste port
activities.
The Instrument of the Free Port of Trieste (Annex VIII) establishes
the Free Port, free of customs, ‘in order to ensure that the port and
transit facilities of Trieste will be available for use on equal terms
by all international trade and by Yugoslavia, Italy, and the States
of Central Europe.’ The Instrument binds the Free Territory and the
signatory countries through whose territories the Free Port’s traffic
passes to facilitate the movement of this traffic and not to apply any
discriminatory measures against it (Unger 1947).
When a new set of opportunities presented itself in the form of an
autonomous participation in the European Recovery Program, the AMG
officials immediately interpreted it as a game changer. With only one
move, participation in the Marshall Plan could solve several problems:
an immediate solution for the financial difficulties and the anchoring of
the Trieste economy (with the entire city following) to the Western field.
At the same time, the Allied government had the opportunity to build up
some key mechanisms, in order to control the social and political discon-
tent inside the administered area.
In this sense, the relative percentage of landings out of the total port
movement in the post-war years is more significant than absolute data.
Table 6.1: Port of Trieste 1945–1948. Goods loaded and unloaded
(Addobbati 1968, 130).
Years Unload Load Total
% % %
1945 92 8
1946 96 4 100
1947 84 16 100
1948 79 21 100
100
During the early years of the post-war period, the ‘resource’ port,
so to speak, had its primary use entirely within the allied logics aimed
at a stable settlement of Central Europe, in terms of a direct control of
113
