Genoa, drop of cruise business in 2014

Genoa - The record number of over one million cruise passengers serviced by Stazioni Marittime of Genoa in 2013 is expected to drop by 20% in 2014, mostly due to the fact that Genoa will no longer be the home port for Royal Caribbean and its subsidiary Pullmantur, but also due to a decrease in volumes from MSC (from 887,000 in 2013 to 670,000 this year). There is a different trend with ferries: the volume of passengers went down in 2013, continuing the trend of recent years, but the decrease was less dramatic than previously. For 2014, it is expected that volumes will stabilise. There will be a minimal contribution from a new service between Genoa and Skikda (Algeria) by the company Algerie Ferries that is testing 4 summer stops this year (marketed in Italy by Tirrenia). The data was presented yesterday during a shareholders meeting that nominated the new Board of Directors. Most Directors have been reconfirmed for the next 3 years, including President Ferdinando Lolli and CEO Edoardo Monzani, but with one important exception: the addition of Roberto Alberti as representative of Costa Crociere. Costa Crociere earned the right to a representative in the Board (replacing Renato Midoro, representative of the Genoa municipality who is no longer in office) after the acquisition last year of additional Finporto shares, increasing its holding to 13.28% of the company. The other Directors are Fabio Capocaccia, Lorenzo Cuocolo, Franco Fabrizio, Massimo Mura, Franco Ronzi and Ariodante Valeri.

Stazioni Marittime’s financial statement saw 2013 close in the black, with a net profit of 306,000 euros on a turnover of 23.9 million (+4.3% on 2012) while cash flow was over 5.3 million. During the year, 2,899,193 cruise and ferry passengers passed through Genoa, 4.53% more than in 2012. Specifically in the cruise business, there was a record set of 1,050,085 (+37.7%). For 2014, despite the expected drop in cruise passengers (it is estimated there will be 800,000, of which 65% are home port and 35% in transit) the company hopes to maintain those margins and add additional investment thanks to operations in real estate. President Lolli stated “we have agreed with the Port Authority to sell to the Co-op the property currently leased to the same Co-op. The proceeds, estimated at 5.6 million euros, will cover the following: more than half will go to reduce financial charges with banks and the rest will be invested in infrastructure, such as a 600,000 euro upgrade of the boarding bridge”. The bridge needs to be adapted to service a new setup on the ships, which sees life boats on the outside.

As for the future, the hope is that the big companies can take decisions that over the next few years will limit the expected losses stemming from reduced port calls. The return of Costa to the Board of Directors is considered a positive sign. Monzani highlighted “this is an important signal for future collaborations. Last week, we received the Neo Romantica, and on November 7th, the Diadema will call as well, so we expect relationships to improve”. In addition, “we are courting operators such as Royal Caribbean and Pullmantur” who brought in over 100,000 passengers in 2013, but moved to La Spezia for 2014 and 2015. There is hope to bring the world’s largest ship, the Allure of the Seas to Genoa in 2016. A more concrete possibility lies in the hands of P&O, which has this year brought the Ventura, a ship that can bring in 50,000 passengers per year. If the experience is positive (one of the unknown issues is the airport service) then it should be confirmed for 2015 as well.