After months of negotiations, the President of the North Tyrrhenian Port Network Authority (PNA), Luciano Guerrieri, celebrated another milestone achievement: putting an end to the feud over the delicate issue of passenger and cruise passenger services.
The PNA’s & Porto di Livorno 2000’s senior management signed a procedural agreement this morning to fully implement the 2018 tender that saw Livorno Terminals (a company controlled by Onorato’s Moby but with MSC’s Marinvest holding stake in it) enter as majority shareholder in PL 2000. .
The process delineated in the agreement drawn up by the senior manager in charge of the administrative procedure, Roberta Macii, consists of three phases, two of which run parallel and concern the implementation of infrastructural projects and the updating/restructuring of the economic-financial plan presented at the time by Livorno Terminals during the tender process.
It refers to the work to be carried out by the Authority, preparatory (some parallel) to the investments the successful bidder is responsible for. In the annexes to the agreement there is a precise timeline the work has to follow, divided into three parts. The aim of the infrastructure project is to move the port quays facing the Cappellini and Florence docks backwards shoreside, simultaneously enlarging the water areas. Cruise ships will berth at the Calata Orlando and Calata Pisa quays, while the Calata Carrara quays will remain for ferries.
The first intervention phase (2027-2028) will regard the Molo Alto Fondale and the Calata Orlando quay heads and will involve both the reprofiling of the Firenze dock basin and beginning to fill it with the materials from the remodeling operations. This phase also includes building a dock for nautical services (harbour pilots and mooring services) at the head of the deepwater quay and setting up the first cruise berth.
In the second phase (2028-2030), the second cruise berth will be built. The final layout of the Capellini-Florence dock basin and the related port quays will instead be completed with the reprofiling the Calata Carrara quay, during the third phase (2029-2031).
The cost of these projects will total over €70 million, with €38.7 million for the first phase, €16.6 million for the second phase , and €15.5 million for the third phase.
A number of projects compatible with the detailed urban planning, which can be implemented immediately regardless of the completion of public works, were also highlighted in the agreement. These include a 4-star hotel and an underpass in front of the Old Fortress, the urgent construction of a new mobile bridge linking the Medicean port and Calata Sgarallino and the need to proceed with the planned demolition work on the Alto Fondale quay as soon as possible. All these projects interfere with the new quay profiling. They therefore have to be implemented before the planned infrastructure adjustments can begin.
The transformation of the passenger facility on the Alto Fondale quay, which represents the third part of the agreement, is fundamental. With a view to formalizing the concession contract, the PNA is engaged in on-going negotiations with Livorno Municipality so that, as soon as the Municipal Operational Plan becomes effective, the procedure for defining the Masterplan can begin.
Livorno Terminals has up to a maximum of 90 days from today to present the PNA with a project proposal to base the Masterplan on, which, in turn, is to be transmitted to the municipal administration.
Once the Masterplan has been approved and PL 2000 and Livorno Terminals have been given an updated timeframe scheduling the work the PNA is responsible for, Livorno Terminals and PL 2000 itself has to submit the following documents within 120 days:
– the certified, updated version of the Economic & Financial in the technical proposal it submitted during the 2016 call for tenders;
– the ways in which the financial investments are to be developed and related interventions;
– the revised traffic forecasts based on timescales corresponding to the investment schedule;
– the updated tariff scheme for passenger facility and passenger assistance services;
– the employment program.
The final concession will cover a total area of 216,352m2. It will also regulate the use of 21.5 million m2 state-owned maritime assets.
The duration of the Formal Concession Contract – effective as of 2nd May 2019 (date the assignment contract was signed) and the maximum duration of thirty years, as set forth in the Tender Regulations – will be established on the basis of the revised Economic & Financial Plan.
“This is an important day for Livorno port’s competitive and economic progress,’ said Mr. Guerrieri on the sidelines of the signing. “Over the last few months, we have worked very hard to reach an agreement with the aim of avoiding further legal disputes and agreeing to follow a common expansion program,” he added. “Administrative efficiency and the encouraging cooperation between stakeholders have always guided our institutional activities. I must give credit to our offices and senior managers for having taken on an important commitment over the last few years. I would like to thank them because they have made a vital contribution, I would like to thank the Chamber of Commerce and the Harbour Authority; our working relationship with them has always been based on loyal mutual collaboration. I would also like to thank Porto di Livorno 2000, for their determination to reach this agreement.”
Roberta Macii was also satisfied: “This has been one of the most complex affairs I have dealt with in my professional life,” she said. “It was a long, complicated task. It involved a complex, chronological reconstruction of the issue over the years and a series of in-depth legal investigations reported in the numerous reports delivered to the administration,” she said. She thanked her colleagues who worked on the agreement (Simone Gagliani, Cinthia De Luca, Fabrizio Marilli and Andrea Carli) for their collaboration and the company with its legal team (“We have all, each in our own way, succeeded in achieving a result that was by no means a foregone conclusion”).
According to the President of the Maremma & Tyrrhenian Chamber of Commerce, Riccardo Breda, a minority shareholder, like the Port Network Authority, of Porto di Livorno 2000, today’s agreement delineates a future for the cruise and ferry sector, with positive spin-offs not only for Livorno but also for Tuscany: “Porto 2000 is a great resource for our regional area. This agreement demonstrates that stakeholders have set aside their reservations and preconceived opinions, setting up positive synergies for the development and growth of our port,” he said.
According to the President of Porto di Livorno 2000, Matteo Savelli, the agreement signed today is an important step that propels the company forward into the future development of the port’s passenger area. “The matter has been complex and will continue to be so. We must nevertheless look ahead to implement our traffic and develop the port of Livorno, Tuscany’s gateway to the sea.’
Translation by Giles Foster