“Worry about the cruises. The drop in calls to Venice will also have repercussions here»
«2023 brings some critical issues, some historical, others related to the events of the moment. For example if the instability linked to the war events in Ukraine continues. This is particularly important for our system because it compresses the bulk traffic, mainly linked to grain, to the movement of grain which is precisely the most influenced by war events, the same happens for the movement of hydrocarbons”.
«We have some concerns related to cruises. Covid has left many wounds. There are much fewer ships in the Mediterranean, the companies especially the most important ones have had to reduce the number of ships and this has resulted in fewer calls in the system even compared to 2022. To add the unresolved problem of Venice which greatly damages the cruises in the Adriatic”.
«Even if in 2022 we had excellent results in terms of number of passengers, in 2023 we will have fewer stopovers, it is a reality that should not be silenced just as the Venice problem should not be underestimated. If Venice made 600 calls in 2018 before the Franceschini decree (decree that established the definitive landing place for large ships in Venice outside the lagoon, ed) now it makes 210. If you miss the “prom queen” that is Venice, the rest of the Adriatic ports are affected. The cruise industry in the Adriatic is strongly oriented towards the most significant city and this represents a problem for all the ports of the itineraries which are on the Adriatic”.
«It will happen that in 2024 the number of stopovers will grow because the losses deriving from Covid will be completely absorbed by the companies. So the positive curve can resume in 2024, while we clearly expect passenger numbers to increase.”
«The lower number of calls in 2023 could also be useful for us in some respects, because we will be busy opening construction sites. We have almost all the ports of the System that see significant construction sites already in place or prospectively to be opened in 2023″.
«The construction site that we expect to inaugurate very shortly concerns the new maritime station for cruises. The new cruise terminal. The winning company has been identified, we will sign the contact shortly. Then as regards the tenders in progress, we are completing the tender for the mooring tooth, there is the tender; the works for Marisabella are continuing, the reclamation is being transformed into a quay as foreseen in the contract. Here the contractual deadline for delivery is the beginning of 2025, I hope the work can be completed by the end of 2024. In 2023, the contract for the lorry transport could also be awarded, because the authorization phase is underway and therefore the race soon. Just as perhaps this year we will be able to announce the tender for the new dock for the coast guard patrolmen which also allows the construction of the tourist port in the San Cataldo area. Within the year we should have all the tenders in progress concerning Bari with a question mark only on the lorry which is a bit complex and the metropolitan city follows it with us ».
«Traffic is growing, the vocation of our ports as ports of choice for rolling stock is consolidating, this is the bet of the centrality of our system in an increasingly globalized market. Bulk goods did very well and also the project cargo sector which is very important in our system, for example the handling of wind and mechanical blades».
«Absolutely optimistic for this year, even if the commitment required of the structure is extraordinary because it concerns a mass of works to be set in motion, stuff to make your wrists tremble».
«Traffic management is also a complex issue, the more traffic increases in the port, the more difficult it is to manage an infrastructure that lacks the lorry capacity, we need to manage the last mile between port and hinterland, currently this is done in an underefficient way ».
«We are moving forward with the most important project which concerns dredging, we have given an assignment to one of the most expert figures in the sector, we are proceeding with the characterization, all that activity required by law. It is a complex dredging because it is rock dredging. Having a plan for 2023 would already be a good result».