Over 100 ships and 200 thousand cruise passengers will land in the port of Catania in 2024, confirming an important growth in the number of cruises and after 9 years (last landing in 2015) the “Disney Dream” of the Disney Cruises company will also return, with 3800 tourists on board it will significantly enrich the parterre of prestigious brands, first and foremost Costa Crociere, which has chosen the Etna port as homeporting, i.e. the start and end location of a cruise.
Musumeci’s words
This morning the Minister for Civil Protection and Sea Policies Nello Musumeci made an institutional visit to the Catania offices of the ADSP of the eastern Sicilian Sea, in the presence of the president Francesco Di Sarcina: “I express appreciation for the governance of the Authority port – said Musumeci – because it is demonstrating that it knows how to compete in the port sector of the Mediterranean Sea, which is increasingly fierce and difficult, just think of the North African or Middle East side; the sea is once again the protagonist. The competition can be won with an increasingly adequate and innovative port network, where digitalisation, the electrification of the docks, the back port and the efficiency of services are fundamental to becoming a reference in the transport of goods and people. Sicily is the protagonist in this sense.”
The news for eastern Sicily
President Di Sarcina illustrated to the minister all the news regarding the future of the ports of eastern Sicily, in particular focusing attention on the master plan for the port of Catania, which will radically change the waterfront in the coming years, on the start of works on the breakwater, which started a month ago, and on general services which include changes in order to adapt the ports to European and international standards by focusing on digitalisation and green.
“Catania strengthens its brand reputation as a cruise port – explains Di Sarcina – from the beginning of the new governance we set ourselves the objective of intensifying the specific and different vocations of the ports under our competence, therefore Augusta for the commercial aspects and Catania for those fishing, tourist and cruise vessels and the 2024 numbers represent a goal achieved, which will have to further improve in the coming seasons. Next October we will also host a preview event for Cruise Day 2025, the most important event involving the entire world of Italian cruise tourism”.
