Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) will participate in the tender still to be launched by the Leghorn port authority for the new container terminal project called Piattaforma Europa which will enable the Tuscan port to receive the latest class of containerships. Upon request from Splash whether MSC would run for this terminal Gianluigi Aponte said “Yes, sure”. And about possible partnership he added: “At first we will go alone and then we will see”.
The project encompasses a new container terminal with a handling capacity of 1.5m teu per year, with 60 ha yard and 1,200 m of quayside directly linked to the national rail network. The projected depth is 16 m but a further step of dredging works is expected in a second step.
Aponte, speaking at a public event held in Genoa, called upon local ports to invest more to be handle 400 m long containerships.
“I would like port authorities, pilots and the Coast Guard to act more bravely and to assume responsibilities in order to succeed at accommodating the ultra large containerships deployed today inside the port of Genoa. We need it for the competitiveness of the port and it’s mandatory if we want to take advantage of the upturn we are finally experiencing on the global trades,” he said.
The executive chairman of MSC said he was not particularly worried about a potential excess of port capacity in Italy due to the upcoming terminal container controlled by Maersk and Cosco in Vado Ligure (50 km from Genoa) since “there is enough traffic for everyone in the coming years if we will be able to operate the ultra large container carriers in Italy”.
Finally the Italian government is also set to finance the construction of the port of Genoa’s new seawall, a project that will cost about €1bn overall and is considered necessary to allow access and rotation of the latest generation of container ships.
