“There’s no war. There has been a big misunderstanding about Livorno.” Manuel Grimaldi talks to specialized magazine ShipMag (www.shipmag.it) to settle the dispute that has arisen from misunderstandings with the port cluster over the future of Terminal Darsena Toscana (TDT), the terminal company which the world’s largest ferry owner has taken control of, in place of the Genoese group GIP.
The issue is now common knowledge. It came to a head this summer, when Grimaldi decided to bring new car traffic to TDT from a Scandinavian operator who otherwise would not have been able to come to Livorno. Although it was justified by the opportunity to use the area profitably, at a time when container traffic was suffering due to the Red Sea crisis, the operation led to a lot of controversy, provoking a debate on whether box traffic could survive at TDT, due to the risk – according to operators – that Grimaldi might want to focus more on new car traffic, which it specializes in.
At the time of the approval of the Three-Year Operational Plan on 29th October, the operators had expressed their concerns about the situation. They suggested that Port Network Authority President Guerrieri should amend the Port Masterplan, – with a Technical-Functional Adjustment – to offer the possibility of delineating an area for car traffic on Darsena Toscana’s west bank, while, at the same time guaranteeing space for containers.
Mr. Guerrieri then had the Three-Year Operational Plan approved without incorporating the operators’ proposal. He stated that he wanted to adopt a flexible approach due to the port’s multipurpose vocation and referred to a future assessment of TDT’s Business Plan to evaluate what to do.
On 11th November, however, Livorno port’s business associations decided to put pen to paper and write directly to Mr. Guerrieri, pointing out that A) containers are not part of Livorno’s multipurpose vocation; B) the Authority should have checked the business plan at the time of the transfer of ownership; C) that the Antitrust Authority, in giving the go-ahead to the transfer of shares in TDT, had put in writing that Grimaldi should manage the terminal in the interest of maintaining and developing container traffic.
Taking his cue from this controversy, Mr. Grimaldi offers strong reassurances as to what TDT’s vocation should be: “We took over the TDT terminal with a major investment to continue handling containers and this is what we are going to continue to do,” he told ShipMag’s Chief Editor, Teodoro Chiarelli, adding that he had just signed an agreement with Hapag-Lloyd to bring 30 thousand containers from February 1st .
As for the misunderstandings with the port cluster and Confindustria president Piero Neri’s recent move – leaving Confitarma after it had opted to distance itself from port operators who had called for limiting automotive areas to an absolute minimum – Manuel Grimaldi says he is confident that a reconciliation can be achieved soon. “I have read about the stance taken by the Neri family, whom we have had a good rapport with for generations. I believe that this big misunderstanding can be cleared up very soon,” he said.
Translation by Giles Foster
