As in Genoa, in Savona and Vado Ligure none of the concession holders (with only one almost total exception) respected the activity programs agreed with the System Port Authority for the period 2019-2023. This is revealed by the second part of the monitoring carried out by the Adsp of the Western Ligurian Sea brought to the Management Committee in December 2024, never made public but now viewed by SHIPPING ITALY.
The approach used – downstream, it is explained in the premises, of a non-trivial data collection harmonization work – is the same as applied in the port of the capital, with the report subdivided by commodity type. The first analyzed is that of full containers. The performance of Vado Gateway (Apm Terminals) was far from expectations, with deviations in volumes considered between -46% and -66% (-59% in 2023, with 293 thousand TEUs handled against 713 thousand forecast). Direct employees (232 out of 313 in 2023) and investments (88.4% of the forecast for the five-year period) were also below forecast.
The picture is more varied in multipurpose, where overall traffic still fell from about 5.1 million tonnes to just over 4.2 million. The volume targets were never met by Savona Terminals (best result in 2021 with 752 thousand tonnes against the 842 thousand forecast, -11%) while direct employees were 9 out of 10 in 2023 and investments were at 55.5% of the forecast for the period considered. Savona Terminal Auto was closer to the agreed results, with variations in the /budget ratio between -14% and +5%, 41 employees out of 40 in 2023 and investments in line (98% of forecast). The performance of the Reefer Terminal was always negative in terms of volumes (ranging over the five years between -8.5% and -28.8%), direct employees (141 out of 147 in 2023) and investments (97.4% of the forecast for the five-year period).
In the solid bulk sector, the only exception in the entire Genoese-Savonese port area regarding the respect of planned volumes. For five years, in fact, the But Srl terminal handled more than forecast (between 7% and 23% more), reaching (in 2023) 10 of the 11 expected employees and investing two and a half times what was planned. For Colacem, volumes were on the contrary always lower than forecasts (between -15% and -34%), while direct employees (14 out of 14) and investments (+14%) are in line or higher. Monfer’s five-year period was similar: volumes between -5% and -48%, employment and investment commitments respected. The Terminal Alti Fondali in 2022 exceeded forecasts by 17%, but in the remaining four years it was below by values between -1% and -26%, with employment in line (21 out of 22 in 2023) and investments above forecast.
In liquids, the main operator, Sarpom (Api group), in the period considered never reached the forecast volumes (6.5 million tonnes per year from 2020 onwards), closing with results between -5% and -19.7%, almost respected the employment commitments (15 direct out of 17) and fully respected the investment ones. Depositi Costieri invested more than forecast and employed slightly less, but only in 2022 did it exceed the target by 4%, underperforming in the other 4 years (by values between -9% and -48%). The results of Alkion were always negative (between -20% and -88%), despite investments above forecast and employees in line (20 out of 20 in 2023).
After two deficit years, Esso in 2021 and in 2021 exceeded forecasts, but fell below them by 8.9% in 2023, with 87 employees against 114 and forecast for 2023 and no investments made against the 3 million euros forecast for the five-year period.
It should be noted that for Savona and Vado Ligure the Adsp also considered passenger traffic, as the respective terminal operators are classified as Article 18. For Costa Crociere, however, the forecasts were not updated (as was done for some commercial terminals, at least in Genoa) to account for cyclical effects (the pandemic first and foremost), so it went from -13% in 2019 (669,000 passengers handled against 770,000 forecast) to -92% the following year, rising to -19% in 2023 (862,000 against 1.06 million). Commitments for employment and investments were met.
For Forship, only the forecasts for the last two years are reported (exceeded in 2022, while in 2023, 17% less than forecast was handled), ok for employment and investments.
