Ports: ‘West Sicily Gate’ is born

Pasqualino Monti, the President of the Port System Authority of the Western Sicilian Sea, defines it as the “crowning of a dream”. He speaks of an “Italian-style miracle that comes from the South and is aimed at international markets”. Here it is, the West Sicily Gate, the newco composed of the companies MSC Cruise SA and Costa Crociere spa, entrusted with the maritime state concession for the management of the passenger terminals in the four ports of the Port System Authority of the Western Sicilian Sea, namely Palermo, Termini Imerese, Trapani and Porto Empedocle. The newly born company was presented today at the headquarters of the Port System Authority of the Western Sicily Sea in the presence, in addition to Monti, of Beniamino Maltese, director of the Board of Directors West Sicily Gate srl, Executive Vice President and CFO of Costa Cruises, Luigi Merlo, Director of the Board of Directors of West Sicily Gate srl and Head of Institutional Relations of the MSC Group. “The birth of the new company, West Sicily Gate, this very important reality – explained Monti while meeting the journalists – is the culmination of a great job carried out by our Authority with effort, dedication, tenacity and passion. It is as if today a new course has started, an awaited new deal. Welcoming the latest generation of large ships to Palermo in a redeveloped and dredged port, therefore with adequate depths, and equipped with accommodation facilities appropriate to our ambitions, was unthinkable until a few years ago: it is really difficult, finally looking at the works created, to imagine as our ports were just three years ago. In terms of implementation times and results, we are faced with an Italian-style miracle that comes from the south and is proposed to international markets as a winning project. The goodness of the operation is demonstrated by the figures: despite Covid, from January 1, 2022, we will have growing numbers: as many as 176 will be the expected berths of Costa and Msc out of a total of 226 touched, also including the other companies that will finally reappear in the Mediterranean “. And he adds:” The goal is to triple the number of cruise passengers over the next few years compared to 2018, the year in which we touched 600,000 units, making our stopovers a mix of modernity in the provision of services and excellence in the field of hospitality. And working so that the West Sicily Gate can carry out the ambitious projects it has set itself and which concern not only the increase in passengers but also the commitment so that our ports become home ports, creating that additional induced consisting of passengers who reach the city by plane and who spend a few days here before embarking for the start of the cruise “. 30 years, of state-owned areas intended for the mooring of cruise ships, the reception of their passengers and the performance of terminal activities for cruise passengers embarking, disembarking and transit in the ports of Palermo, Termini Imerese, Trapani and Porto Empedocle, and the authorization to set up a project company, with equal shares, in the form of a limited liability company, for the management of c oncession. The application was published and, subsequently, an investigation commission carried out the comparison and evaluation operations between the requests received: the one presented by Msc Cruises SA and Costa Crociere spa was the most consistent with the public interest pursued. After the legal checks, the concession was entrusted to the companies Msc Cruises SA and Costa Crociere spa, incorporated in West Sicily Gate srl The signing of the concession title constitutes the last act of a complex administrative procedure, which aims to implement cruise traffic in the ports of the network of western Sicily. To the new company, the AdSP has granted: in the port of Palermo, in exclusive use, the Crispi quay, the Vittorio Veneto quay and the Sammuzzo quay, the adjacent areas and the appurtenances belonging to the maritime state property ; in the port of Trapani, in non-exclusive use, the Garibaldi quay, the adjacent areas and the premises of the maritime station belonging to the maritime state property, the non-exclusive use will remain until the T-shaped pier is built by the AdSP which will be used for exclusive approach by the concessionaire; in the port of Termini Imerese, in non-exclusive use, the Veniero quay and the adjacent areas belonging to the maritime state property; in the port of Porto Empedocle, in non-exclusive use, the Todaro quay and the adjacent areas belonging to the maritime state property. Pierfrancesco Vago ‘Sicily represents an important tourism-cruise hub’ “Sicily and its ports represent a tourism-cruise hub of primary importance and growing rapidly at the Mediterranean level. For this reason we are particularly pleased to participate in a highly strategic initiative such as this, which will equip the city of Palermo with a renovated, innovative and functional cruise terminal, thanks to the significant intervention carried out by the Port System Authority of the Western Sicilian Sea, led by President Monti, whom I would like to sincerely thank – says Pierfrancesco Vago, Executive Chairman of MSC Cruises – The new terminal will favor a further increase in the number of tourists arriving in the Sicilian capital, a city in which the MSC Group has been operating for over 20 years, also in the cargo and ferries sector, and represents the first player in the shipping sector. Thanks to this new initiative, Palermo and the ports connected to it such as Trapani and Porto Empedocle are destined to become one of the main hubs of MSC in the Mediterranean, also in view of the new ships in the luxury cruise segment – with the Explora Journeys brand, created for the new and most demanding generation of luxury travelers – whose first unit will take up service in 2023. Next year we plan to touch Palermo with our most modern and technologically and environmentally advanced ships, in line with the our commitment to the environment and to the port and coastal communities visited by our guests. “” Despite the fact that cruises were one of the sectors most affected by the Covid emergency – commented Beniamino Maltese – the companies have confirmed the investment in the port system of western Sicily. It is an investment that is part of a broader framework of tourism recovery, which must be the driving force for the growth of national GDP. As for Costa, in 2022 we have already planned around 90 calls in Palermo, with the most innovative ships in our fleet. We will do our best to support the new West Sicily Gate company, with the aim of making it the gateway to Sicily for the cruise sector ”. Maltese, ‘Palermo has a piece of Pnrr ready two years in advance’ Pasqualino Monti, in his speech, recalled what has been done in the four years of management of the Port Authority. “The birth of this company became a reality through extraordinary work that was done by an extraordinary team, in terms of commitment and dedication”. And he gives an example: “The Sammuzzo quay that could not even accommodate a ferry. We had a structure that was an open sewer instead of a quay, with confused traffic”. While numerous works have been done in recent years. “I remind everyone that the Vittorio Veneto quay was seized, the maritime station was also seized and we have secured the quay. We have consolidated the Garibaldi quay – he continues – Then, to see that last week the two flagships arrived, both the Costa Firenze that the MSC is a source of great satisfaction for me “. He then announces that 225 cruise ship berths are planned for 2022. Of which 176 from Costa and MSC, from Newco “. Beniamino Maltese, director of the Board of Directors of West Sicily Gate srl, Executive Vice President and CFO of Costa Cruises, recalls in his speech:” We talk every day about the NRR to get this country back on track , Palermo has already done a piece of Pnrr, it has it ready two years in advance. It is an event that does not only concern Palermo but the whole country. Because I want to remind you that Italy suffered a drop in GDP of 8.9 percent, we have to go back to the Second World War to have similar data. How can we get out of it? The most important lever is tourism, which has lost 90 percent of its turnover this year. “” The second challenge is that we shouldn’t go from the United States to Venice and Rome only – he says – but also to Palermo “. Luigi Merlo , Director of the Board of Directors of West Sicily Gate srl and Head of Institutional Relations of the MSC Group, remembers that “it is really difficult to do in four years what President Monti has done. Above all, it was a question of changing a vision and giving a vision of ports that go beyond Sicily. The first point is tourism. The goal is to compete with Spain. Sicily can become the great tool to make tourism grow exponentially in this region “.” It is a very important challenge in which we strongly believe “, he continues. and “we are making a great effort”. “Cruise ships – he says – are already at the forefront, here we are already working on this frontier”.