Venice cruises, the Region attacks

Genova - The Region “must ensure public management of an infrastructure of unique significance, not only for Venice but for the whole territory.” And that’s how the motion, voted for unanimously on Tuesday by the Regional Council of Veneto, aims to lock down the Venice Passenger Terminal (VTP) into public control, the most important cruise port on the Adriatic Sea, second in Italy only to Civitavecchia (1.5 million passengers moved in 2015 in 498 ship stops) with shares in the terminals of Ravenna, Catania and Cagliari. In late December, the Port Authority of Venice put up for sale 65.9% of the company Apvs, majority shareholder of VTP. The tender, with a base price of 24 million expired on 1 March of this year, in compliance with the state Budget plan of 2015 which provides for the rationalization of investments of public bodies.

On 31 March, the VTP shares were provisionally awarded for a value of €24.1 million to the consortium Venezia Investimenti, composed of the three big cruise companies in the Mediterranean: MSC, Costa Cruises, and Carnival together with Turkish terminal management company Global, who are waiting for Sviluppo Veneto (regional holding company which owns 33.4% of Apvs) to decide whether to exercise its right of first refusal within the 30 days stipulated by law. Time is running out, hence, the pressure of the regional council, with the motion signed by Vice President Bruno Pigozzo (Pd), unanimously approved and promoted by the centre-right council. With the exercise of pre-emption, the region would become the majority shareholder of VTP, with 53% of the shares, consequently Venice would remain the only major Italian passenger terminal in public hands - if we exclude the case of Livorno, where the tender for the privatization of the Port 2000, however, expires later this month.

As the VTP terminal possesses a “unique significance” for the Venetian economy, its state ownership is of strategic value (also due to its importance within the state budget plan). Above all, control of the infrastructure for cruise ships would allow local politicians to have a strong voice (together with the Municipality) in negotiations with the shipping companies and the government in the “big ships” debate. As is well known, there is deep-seated controversy in the city over the presence of the giants of the sea on the Lido-Piazza San Marco-VTP way, and the alternative routes currently under consideration by the Committee of Environmental Assessment. Earlier this month the Transport Minister, Graziano Delrio, assured that decisions will be made imminently, but nevertheless, no one expects a change in the status quo before 1 December 2017, the minimum timeframe to build a canal in the middle of the Laguna Veneta deep enough keep the ships away from Piazza San Marco.

Also at the beginning of April, the president of Sviluppo Veneto, Massimo Tussardi, said in view of the tender price, the company will not exercise pre-emption by itself “because we do not want to use public resources: we want to work hand in hand with a group of private entrepreneurs as we see fit.” In all likelihood, these entrepreneurs will be Save (the company that manages Venice’s Airport, which is controlled by Enrico Marchi’s Finint) and the consortium of maritime and port operators Finpax. Both companies already own 22.1% of VTP, and have already submitted three (failed) appeals against the tender.