Confitarma, council secures Mattioli’s candidacy

Rome - Those present recount that when the scrutineers emerged with the results of the voting process for the new composition of Confitarma’s council, the tension was palpable, and a brief awkward silence ensued: the name Cesare d’Amico was not on the list.

D’Amico, Roman shipowner, head of one of Italy’s leading companies, is the heir, along with his cousin Paolo, of a dynasty that has provided various presidents to the association: apart from Paolo himself, Antonio was a longtime president, serving three mandates which saw a makeover at Confitarma; and then there was Ciro, a remarkable figure who was among the shipowners who oversaw the creation of the association in Italy.

Cesare, yesterday, became a casualty in the internal power games amongst the “Neapolitan-faction”, and various sources explained that he might have paid for his support of Rosina’s nomination as president, thus wanting to confirm the commitment he gave at the start of the race to renew the association’s top leaders. And so the d’Amicos will only have one voting member in the council, Paolo, who belongs there by right, as a former president.

Cesare was not the only casualty of the reshuffle: Stefano Beduschi was eliminated too, and some speculate that the fortunes of the vice president of Italia Marittima, a company of the Evergreen international group, changed due to an interview given by him to Secolo XIX/TheMediTelegraph, in which the nomination of Mattioli was called into question as responding to the interests of Italy’s port towage sector, and not to that of the overall merchant fleet. Many clouds, then, on the horizon yesterday in both Rome and Trieste. And even in Genoa there was electricity in the air: another long-established shipowner, Bruno Musso, failed to enter the Council. Instead Stefano Messina and Matteo Catani fared better, managing to catalyse the consensus of Genoese members, and to form part of “the ballot of Thirty”.

The new composition of the Council (full list of names is available on-line on the MediTelegraph site) reflects several novelties: the most impressive one is the entrance of Guido Grimaldi, head of Alis, a logistics association linked to Emanuele Grimaldi, Confitarma’s outgoing president. Others who managed to get in were Corrado Neri, a new entry, connected with the tug-operator sector, and Manfredi Lefebvre d’Ovidio, president of Silversea Cruises. With this new composition Mario Mattioli could garner a very large majority, one that various sources explained could range from 60% to 80%. The upper range could be achieved if Alcide Rosina, the designated vice-president, is able to recover votes from those Genoese who are still undecided.

Grimaldi wins across the board: making Mattioli unassailable, and reducing the chances of a surprise when the Council will cast its secret ballot for the election of the new president, on 11 July.

The big day has been postponed to allow Mattioli, who heads Augusta Offshore, to build the team that will govern Confitarma over the next three years. The only remaining unknown relates to possible defections. Messina, Catani and Beduschi had made themselves clear: with Mattioli, Confitarma is likely to lean too much in the direction of port towage. GNV, furthermore, is a Geneva-based MSC-controlled company, and a signal from there is awaited with trepidation: yesterday the “rebel-faction” was defeated. There remain, however, several days to come to a solution or to find a way out.