Demolitions in Piombino, areas handed over

Piombino - Tomorrow at the headquarters of the Region of Tuscany - the master of ceremonies will be President Enrico Rossi - 70 thousand square metres of the port of Piombino, which will be dedicated to demolitions and ship repair work, will be handed over to the PIM Consortium (Piombino Industrie Marittime). The joint venture between the Genoa Industrie Navali Group (a holding company that belongs to the two largest companies in Genoa’s industrial sector, Mariotti and San Giorgio) and the giant Fratelli Neri di Livorno, which specialises in the tugboat sector, will conduct repairs and demolitions on ships with an investment that the latest news reports at €13 million, and an estimated 200 new jobs, with activity to begin in the first months of 2017.

Pushed by public investments (over €180 million, also resulting from the granting of the “complex crisis area” status, which was requested by the Region of Liguria for Savona and Valbormida on Tuesday) to staunch the bleeding from the as yet unresolved steel crisis - steel historically being the raison d’être of the port of Piombino - the port is going through with the obligatory solution of seeking new business. At the end of the summer, the Port Authority should have resumed its work with the Italian Navy, as called for in the programme agreement, although yesterday the Ministry of Defence did not disclose anything new on this subject.

From previous agreements, the demolition of 18 of the Italian Navy’s units (out of a total of 38) is planned to take place at Piombino, as the Navy’s fleet restructuring plan gradually takes effect.