Genoa pinches MSC flagships from Venice

Genoa - The Ligurian port snatched the two flagships of MSC Cruises from Venice. Aponte’s company presented the calendar 2015-2016 ahead of time. His two main ships, Preziosa and Fantasia, will have Genoa as their home port instead of the Adriatic port.

Although the 2014 season in the Mediterranean shows signs of crisis, Stazioni Marittime forecasts that next year will show a huge increase, with 160 stops for MSC ships. Venice, however, is coping with the uncertainty brought on by its decree banning large ships: the recent rejection of the ban by the courts does allow the return of mega cruise ships to Saint Mark’s Square but this makes programming really hard for the companies.

So MSC rerouted four smaller ships to Venice, instead of its two flagships. With this change of strategy, the MSC passenger capacity in the Venetian port increased nonetheless. Next season, Aponte’s company will return to strength in the Mediterranean. Gianni Onorato, CEO of the company, explained they are aiming at 2 million passengers in 2017.