Commuters on the Adriatic A14 motorway faced an unexpected security and mobility nightmare on Monday morning, 5 January, after a commando-style robbery of an armoured cash van forced police to close both carriageways near Ortona in Abruzzo. According to ANSA, the gang used a lorry jack-knifed across the lanes, smoke bombs and tyre-puncturing nails to immobilise traffic before blasting open the van’s safe and escaping with an estimated €400 000.
Emergency services diverted vehicles at the Ortona exit, producing tailbacks of up to 15 kilometres in each direction and delaying north-south freight movements between Bari and Bologna. Autostrade per l’Italia advised drivers to reroute via the inland A24/A25 or delay departure; real-time toll-gate sensors showed average journey times increasing by 90 minutes.
In light of such sudden transport disruptions, international employees still need to ensure their paperwork is in order before travelling. VisaHQ’s online platform (https://www.visahq.com/italy/) streamlines Italian visa applications for business and leisure visitors alike, letting mobility managers track multiple requests in real time—an advantage when last-minute route changes like the A14 closure throw schedules off balance.
![Armoured-Van Heist Shuts A14 Motorway Near Ortona, Creating 15 km Tailbacks]()
For corporate mobility planners, the incident illustrates the non-weather-related risks that can upend ground logistics. Several automotive suppliers with just-in-time deliveries from Puglia to Emilia-Romagna reported production-line buffers falling below safe limits. Parcel integrators shifted express loads onto rail to protect same-day service-level agreements.
Under Italy’s stringent anti-robbery road rules, motorway closures for forensic work can last hours. Employers running shuttle buses between Abruzzo industrial zones and Pescara Airport scrambled to arrange secondary routes on provincial roads, which quickly became saturated and lack rest-stop infrastructure.
The Ministry of Interior has convened a task force with Polizia Stradale to review surveillance-camera coverage and evaluate whether campaign-style robberies are exploiting known blind-spots along the A14. In the interim, security advisers recommend that corporate drivers avoid overnight lay-bys in the Ortona–Lanciano stretch until arrests are made.
Emergency services diverted vehicles at the Ortona exit, producing tailbacks of up to 15 kilometres in each direction and delaying north-south freight movements between Bari and Bologna. Autostrade per l’Italia advised drivers to reroute via the inland A24/A25 or delay departure; real-time toll-gate sensors showed average journey times increasing by 90 minutes.
In light of such sudden transport disruptions, international employees still need to ensure their paperwork is in order before travelling. VisaHQ’s online platform (https://www.visahq.com/italy/) streamlines Italian visa applications for business and leisure visitors alike, letting mobility managers track multiple requests in real time—an advantage when last-minute route changes like the A14 closure throw schedules off balance.
For corporate mobility planners, the incident illustrates the non-weather-related risks that can upend ground logistics. Several automotive suppliers with just-in-time deliveries from Puglia to Emilia-Romagna reported production-line buffers falling below safe limits. Parcel integrators shifted express loads onto rail to protect same-day service-level agreements.
Under Italy’s stringent anti-robbery road rules, motorway closures for forensic work can last hours. Employers running shuttle buses between Abruzzo industrial zones and Pescara Airport scrambled to arrange secondary routes on provincial roads, which quickly became saturated and lack rest-stop infrastructure.
The Ministry of Interior has convened a task force with Polizia Stradale to review surveillance-camera coverage and evaluate whether campaign-style robberies are exploiting known blind-spots along the A14. In the interim, security advisers recommend that corporate drivers avoid overnight lay-bys in the Ortona–Lanciano stretch until arrests are made.
