Short- to medium-haul shipping is a sector in which the national maritime cluster is a European leader. Geography compels us to be one, for we have two very large islands by Mediterranean standards and our role as a pier stretching out into the sea. The development of the Motorways of the Sea with the financial support of the sea bonus has therefore grown on an already robust structure. It is now a matter of making the intermodal shift structural on coastal and basin routes such as the Adriatic, also because of the important role that short sea shipping will have to play in decarbonisation. It is necessary to strengthen cooperation between companies and ports and port alliances, overcoming the provincial fight to the last hoist. In the international sphere, short sea shipping must be the vehicle of Italy’s industrial and commercial projection towards Africa.