A shipment of deadly Syrian chemical agents expected to arrive in the Italian port of Gioia Tauro has sparked fears among the local population but dock workers are hoping it could help relaunch their crisis-hit hub.
The 560 tonnes of chemicals had been due to arrive in what is the Mediterranean's biggest port for container transfers later this month to be then put onto a US ship for destruction in international waters.
But the plan, which is being overseen by the UN and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) watchdog, has been delayed as only a small fraction of the agents have been taken out of Syria.
Carmelo Cozza of the SUL trade union pointed to the neighbouring village of San Ferdinando, which has protested against the operation.
"The schools are right next door!" Cozza complained.
The trade unionist said there was a lack of official information about "the exact nature of the substances being transferred, the existence or not of emergency procedures or of an evacuation plan".
The government has moved to reassure the public, saying that all the chemicals are part of the same danger classification as other toxic materials that have already transited through Gioia Tauro with no accident.
Domenico Bagala, head of the Medcenter/Contship terminal where the operation is planned, told AFP that the precise details of the plan - expected to last just a maximum of 24 hours - had not been decided.
"We will have to decide how we are going to do it," said the executive, whose terminal is a third German-owned, a third Danish and a third Italian-Swiss.
Salvatore Larocca of the powerful CGIL union said the plan had been "badly handled" from the start in terms of the information given to local authorities, which had created "excessive alarmism" among residents.
But he said the planned transfer of 60 containers loaded with chemical agents could act as an international showcase for hard-up Gioia Tauro.
"It's a prestigious operation. And it's a good thing that a dictator is giving up these kinds of weapons when you think about the number of people who have been killed by sarin gas in Syria," Larocca said.
The chemicals slated for destruction are the most deadly in Syria's declared 1290-tonne arsenal and officials say they will include mustard gas and the ingredients for the nerve agents sarin and VX.
