OLBIA. The Isola Bianca port loses second cruise ship in three days. After MSC Orchestra who skipped the stop at the last moment and headed straight for Genoa, leaving passengers on the dock (reprotected in the Ligurian port in the evening) and tourist agencies who were waiting for her with buses ready to welcome hundreds of excursionists, now also the Marella Explorer 2 will carefully avoid docking in Olbia. The official causes: the wind which makes the entrance along the canal to the giants of the sea unsafe.
The Marella Explorer 2 ship, en route from Palma de Mallorca, was supposed to stop tomorrow 25 April at the Isola Bianca port of Olbia but, due to the wind, its commander decided to stop in Cagliari, where, evidently, there is no too much wind.
The confirmation also comes from the reference agency of Marella Explorer which belongs to the group Cincotta: “The commander has decided to cancel Olbia due to the bad weather forecast for tomorrow” he said Giacomo Sannaoperations manager of the historic maritime agency based in Cagliari, clearly ruling out that the commander canceled the stop at the White Island due to the lack of a second tugboat to guarantee safety for entry and exit operations from the port.
In this regard, it should be underlined that the port of Olbia should be extremely safe for the docking of ships, as it has always been there is only one tugboat for all port traffic. Only one, exactly like the small port of Arbatax. Porto Torres has three, Oristano has two And Cagliari and Sarroch six.
On the peninsula, Livorno has twelve tugs with five always on duty, You are La Spezia And Palermo four with two always active. Olbia is the Cinderella with only one vehicle available which belongs to the specific division of Moby group. Evidently, at least at the time of the announcement by the Ministry of Transport, the layout of the port was considered so safe that a single tugboat with the pilots taking delivery of the ship would have been sufficient to guide the incoming and outgoing operations. As far as we know, that contract will expire in 2032!
The maritime director of Olbia, Giorgio Castronuovodid not want to make any statements on the matter and let us know, through a spokesperson, that “the issue of the second tugboat is being studied and therefore – he believes – it is not appropriate to express himself at this moment”.
