An early setback this year for Chinese counterfeiters saw the seizure of more than 80,000 fake watches in Gioia Tauro in Calabria on 5 January. Lucky straw or final straw? Report of a visit to the bottom of the haystack.

The port infrastructure of Gioia Tauro was built in the early 1990s with a view to absorbing container traffic. Indeed, containers have ushered in a minor revolution in the way maritime trade is conducted, in the sense that a single cargo can transport all kinds of goods in a motley collection seemingly inextricable to ordinary mortals. In reality, the system is childa?