The first yacht, by Azimut Benetti, built in Taranto, in the former Tosi shipyards, has set sail. She crossed the navigable canal with the swing bridge completely open with an extraordinary opening, and set her navigation, route Livorno. The fittings will be completed at the Benetti shipyard in Livorno: the furnishings, systems and accessories which, it is assumed, will be completed by 2025, the date of delivery to its owner. The yacht, FB616, 50 meters long, weighing 220 tons, and costing 40 million euros, required 180 thousand hours of work, approximately 12 months, by 80 workers. The project, carried out by three different companies, SGM Srl, Sea Style Company SpA and Costruzioni Generali Srl, is led by entrepreneurs Maurizio Abatematteo and Pasquale Di Napoli. Two other mega yachts are already under construction in the shipyard, one of 50 and the other of 60 metres, which should be delivered between 2025 and 2026. Hope for a rebirth of shipbuilding in Taranto, with the hope that the activity is implemented, with employment and economic benefits. The strategic and logistical choice of the former Tosi shipyards opens up new scenarios for the valorisation of the territory and skills not used until now. Franco Tosi, founded in 1914 with the “Società Cantieri navali Franco Tosi”, was founded in Legnano, where parts were built for the war supplies of the Navy. With the opening of the Military Arsenal in Taranto, Franco Tosi opened its shipyard in Taranto, it was only 3.5 kilometers from the Arsenal, and thus began its collaboration with the Navy. Today, the old cranes, simulacra of large industrial activities, lie prey to rust and decay. Colonies of seagulls have colonized them for rest after long journeys. Franco Tosi, with its 3000 workers, has built, over time: 2 floating docks of 20,000 tons, 41 submarines, 10 net-laying ships, 11 auxiliary ships, 3 frigates, 1 non-magnetic minesweeper. Despite the great results achieved, the Tosi shipyard, like a large part of the shipbuilding industry, also entered into crisis and closed definitively in 1960. After the transition to IRI, and some other vain attempts at relaunching, Franco Tosi, sold the floating docks, closed. In 2021, thirty-one years after its closure, SGM, a Friulian company, based in Udine, purchased and renovated the former Tosi shipyards, with great satisfaction from the CEO of SGM, Maurizio Abatematteo, originally from Taranto, who emigrated 30 years ago ago, which today places great hopes in the rebirth of shipbuilding, expectations partly realized after the launch of the mega yacht Fb616, the pride of the reborn Taranto shipbuilding industry.
Antonello Giusti
