Pierfrancesco Vago, Executive Chairman di MSC Cruises

The agreement is important because it provides jobs for young people through the Sea Academy. We obtained funds from the Liguria region to start courses for two key roles: middle management in the hotel sector and digital/electronics for new generation ships. We start with 44 young people, 70% will be hired. This is just the beginning. We are building the new MSC Meraviglia, a fully digitalized ship with a broadcast center, requiring new skills and jobs. Liguria has kept its promises: we bought a third tower, now home to over 600 employees, showing growth and job creation. Quays are critical. Ships are getting larger, we must ensure efficient turnaround. We need to equip quays with new cranes and infrastructure, and adapt to new technologies. The market demands faster operations. We are also working on the Bettolo project, which is essential for Genoa to remain competitive with Northern Europe and the world. There is also a potential acquisition discussion with Messina. The path is still long. Meanwhile, the English and French shipowners are changing the landscape. It is the shipowners who control cargo and bring work. We must ensure that shipowners see Genoa as competitive, not just against other Italian ports but against the rest of Europe and the world. We want Genoa to have that competitive capacity.

But the dry dock is one thing, the carrier is another. We haven't signed the concession. We've been working on it for many years. We are ready to continue the discussion, and we hope to reach this signing in a timely manner, because for years we've been working to bring Bettolo to allow the entry of new generation ships. Otherwise, Genoa would be cut off from the logistics and the needs of the new generation ships that the market demands.

As you can see, I am not very lucky in my wishes. So it's difficult to speculate. Today the world is global, we move forward. There are conditions such that there is certainly an aggregation underway. I am a customer of both France and Fincantieri, so I hope that we can continue to work together and above all to keep this technology, this know-how that is cruise shipbuilding, and keep it in Europe. That is the most important thing because this is jobs, and not only for the workers in the shipyard but especially for the entire supply chain that feeds the industrial system of the European territory. I always hope that we don't sell off this incredibly important treasure we have in the blue economy, which creates jobs.