In 2023, cruise passengers handled (embarking, disembarking and transit) in Italian ports were 13.79 million, a volume more than one million higher than the record year of 2019. Analyzing traffic on a regional basis and taking as a basis 2012 is the reference point, but there was a marked contraction in movements in Tuscany and Veneto and a significant growth in those linked to Liguria and Sicily.
If the noticeable contraction in movements in Veneto is attributable to the decree law 103/2021 which established the ban on entry into the Venice lagoon (therefore at the maritime station) of cruise ships exceeding 25 thousand tons, that of Tuscany is attributable to various reasons.
What is certain is that, in the last decade, despite the ascertained and potential tourist demand for a visit to the art cities of Tuscany, the choice of a cruise with a stop in the main port of Livorno has significantly decreased. This goes against the trend of the development of the Italian and international market, so much so that in relation to the port of Livorno there is an almost halving of the relative share. The potential of the “Brand Toscana” is not grasped above all due to a lack of overall competitiveness which will be analyzed below, with particular attention to structures and mobility on the ground.
What emerges from the above data is the performance of La Spezia which from 2012 to 2023, starting practically from scratch, surpassed Livorno in handling, bridging an initial gap of almost a million cruise passengers!
Apart from the dimensional requirements of the cruise port and its purely technical equipment, La Spezia has proven to be competitive due to the presence of all those functions and services that favor the quality of the tourist experience on land. The 2018 Irpet report below is significant in this regard.
These dimensions are known to shipowners and international tourist agencies, dimensions which take on further importance due to the significant presence of repeaters (they are on average one in four and are concentrated in particular among Europeans in the lower economic range and who tend to travel on cruises in the Contemporary segment).
By checking the piers used for cruises in the port of Livorno, however, a sufficient number of available quays emerges, but of non-specific quality, as they are largely not intended for passenger traffic (Alto Fondale, Molo Italia, Molo Mediceo , Darsena Toscana) and as such not integrated with the accommodation facilities located in the Cappellini Basin, with negative consequences on the level of reception of cruise passengers and their ability to disembark.
A decade after the approval of the Master Plan of the Port of Livorno, the program of structural and functional reorganization of the state-owned areas intended for passenger traffic still appears far from materialising. Instead, it would be desirable to construct the building of the new maritime station, the inclusion of spaces intended for more typically urban functions, a new accessibility system, the recovery and valorisation of important historical and cultural heritage.
Crucial in this reorganization is the availability of the High Seabed intended for the docking of 4 cruise ships at the same time and the adaptation interventions of all the piers, so as to allow the construction of the Maritime Station in a central position (rendering in the following image) . The overall investments, estimated at the time at 90 million euros, are borne by Porto 2000 following the sale of the majority shares of the company to Livorno Terminals, a newco controlled by the Onorato group with the participation of MSC.
Unfortunately, only last year did the System Authority begin the relocation activities of the Compagnia Impresa Lavoratori Portuali dall’Alto Fondale, a pier to subsequently be assigned to the Port of Livorno 2000 for the purposes of carrying out activities related to the reception of cruise passengers .
In the meantime, the legal matter raised in 2018 by Porto 2000 itself with the then administrator Guerrieri in opposition to the accommodation facility for ro-ro passenger traffic of the Grimaldi group, at the root of the Darsena Toscana, has ended. The matter ended with the confirmation of the non-exclusivity of passenger/cruise traffic in the port of call for Porto 2000.
Furthermore, the well-known financial affairs of the Onorato group, despite MSC’s intervention, fuel doubts about Porto 2000’s actual fulfillment of the planned investments mentioned above.
The fact is that, six years after the passage of the quotas, the president of the Sistema Guerrieri Authority finds himself managing a situation which does not yet see the presentation of the implementation plan by Porto 2000. In this regard, the contractual terms are not known for a possible dispute of non-compliances.
As regards the valorization of historical heritage, the ongoing one of the Old Fortress is positive thanks to the collaboration between the System Authority and the municipal administration. However, this collaboration is struggling to materialize – here too for many years and despite the announcement of over a year ago by the System Authority itself – with regards to the belt road system and with it the valorisation of the water front and the relationship between the port and city.
This belt road system is strategic for the city, as it is intended to separate, as far as possible, port/industrial vehicular traffic from civil/tourist traffic with obvious benefits for both.
In particular, for cruise passengers’ access to the city and for its image, the pedestrian continuity of the new Maritime Station with Piazza del Luogo Pio appears fundamental, through the routing of vehicles in an underpass as per the rendering below.
The positioning of the planned exchange car parks serving the operators and vehicles waiting to board the ferries also appears strategic, as well as the availability of bus and taxi terminals for cruise passengers in transit and for “home port” cruise passengers. Both for the impact on the port image and for reasons of functionality, the placement in the area adjacent to San Marco appears optimal and in line with the PUMS, which provides a mobility hub for the area near the Leopolda station. All this should be accompanied by a shuttle service with the Maritime Station on tracks, perhaps within a city tram route, in addition to the availability of adequate hotel facilities.
That of “head cruises” is one of the historical weaknesses of the Livorno port. Analyzing the underlying data for 2023, it emerges:
- the importance of the geographic location of home ports;
- the irrelevant market share of the Livorno airport despite its geographic reference basin (Tuscany, Umbria, Emilia Romagna);
- the importance of accessibility to airports and the organization of related services on the ground.
In addition to the aforementioned lack of dedicated parking, shuttle and hotel services, Livorno’s weakness lies in accessibility. In particular, in rail travel times that are not competitive compared to the main reference routes (regional, towards the north of the country and towards Rome), to which is added the positioning of the Central Station on the outskirts, distant and poorly connected to the Maritime Station .
As regards accessibility via air carriers, the proximity to Pisa international airport represents an opportunity to be exploited to the fullest, especially for Premium customers coming from North America, Northern Europe and Asia. In this regard, the reference model is that of Venice: it is a question of identifying cutting-edge methods.
In this regard, the PUMS provides for the railway connection Marittima Station-San Marco Station-S. Rossore Station and from here to Lucca with a stop at the People Mover interchange car park, in the Goletta area: it would be very different to introduce an additional 2 km link road, from the current railway ring on the east side up to Goletta itself, with a line stop at the airport which would eliminate load disruptions with obvious returns for traffic. From the airport baggage claim to the Maritime Station in 20 minutes!
The commercial policies of shipowners also have an impact on the organization of header cruises and the vertical presence of MSC in Porto 2000 does not help the booking of the main competitors in terms of availability of low segment beds such as Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise. Also in relation to this situation, the increase in movements expected in Livorno in the current year (from 638 to 800 thousand with a market share of 5.7%) is practically due to MSC with 77 rotations from 27 last year .
For the development of the Tuscany brand it is essential to drastically reduce travel times to Florence, Siena, the Etruscan coast and Lucca. Suffice it to say that currently from the Municipality of Livorno to that of Florence it takes about two hours regardless of the means of transport used, while from the Municipality of Pisa and that of Bologna to that of Florence, one hour, even in the presence of similar geographical distances!
The organization of the offer of use of cruise ship layover times is essential for the attractiveness of the port of call. The tourist is first of all a traveler and wants to make the best use of the time available.
The current offers of excursions to Florence by coach include the collection of cruise passengers by shuttle bus for the landing in Piazza del Municipio which practically functions as a terminal. Aside from the fares, almost half of the time in a day is spent on the transfer and return and this is discouraging especially for premium customers. Furthermore, it should be noted that the competitor La Spezia has similar offers.
The Livorno municipal administration, while it is committed to improving the attractiveness of the city, is not in designing railway solutions that would make the territory competitive for mobility. Every docking, every complete ship is income for the territory, regardless of the destination on land, not to mention that, by increasing flows, the number of cruise passengers stopping in Livorno also increases (around 30%). Just think of the Raccordo project for port freight traffic which has now become obsolete from the point of view of competitiveness and needs to be updated in terms of High Capacity on the model of the Terzo Valico dei Giovi: Fi-Pi-Li railway instead of the Pisa, Ardenza-by pass Go instead of Collesalvetti Go to allow the transit of the Freccia Rossa. The first intervention would allow the preparation of special trains from the planned railway terminal of the Maritime Station to Santa Maria Novella with travel times of less than an hour and thus creating significant availability of time in Florence for the visit! In this context, the restoration of the San Marco station for regional traffic would also take on important importance.
Finally, it should be noted that the proposed designs would find sustainability in the current territorial civil flows while the tourist/cruise flows would be additional.
