On the website of Sport & Salute Spa the result has not yet been published, but according to reports from several Apulian newspapers, the tender for the rental of a second hotel-ship to be used for the hospitality of athletes and staff during the upcoming Mediterranean Games, scheduled in Taranto from August 21 to September 3, has received no bids.
It is not known what may have dampened the interest of operators in taking part in the procedure (worth 13.5 million euros) – whose deadline had moreover been extended by three days (from April 27 to 30) – and in particular what held back Costa Crociere, which had seemed the most inclined to come forward.
Some insights, however, come from reading the clarifications provided to interested parties. In addition to specifying that the ship’s docking will take place at the Maristanav Naval Base of the Italian Navy, the document – in response to a precise question from an operator – clarifies that fuel costs are to be understood as “fully included in the offered price,” therefore even without any adjustments during the work. The document also mentions the incompatibility of the Italian Navy’s electrical grid with cold ironing systems of cruise ships, highlighting that those used during the Games “will have to be able to independently produce the electrical energy necessary for their operational needs for the entire duration of their stay in port.”
Nor is it clear how the Mef company intends to proceed now. According to what Cronache Tarantine reports, Sport & Salute will evaluate the launch of a negotiated procedure (with the Genoese company and other operators), but on the table there would also be the hypothesis of using the Aroya – i.e., the ship that the organizers have already secured as the first floating hotel for the event – with occupancy levels higher than those initially estimated, equal to 3,000 athletes in single-use cabins, out of a total ship capacity that would however amount to 5,500-6,000 guests.
Still according to the newspaper, another possibility would be, for the organizers, to use land-based accommodation facilities to compensate for any missing reception capacity, a solution that would however bring with it a more complex management of the event given the continuous flows of athletes and delegations arriving and departing from the city.
In the meantime, as seen, the organizers had however already secured the availability as a floating hotel of the Aroya, a cruise ship (ex Dream Team) of the Saudi company Aroya Cruises. Blocked since the beginning of the Middle Eastern conflict in the Persian Gulf, the ship in recent weeks managed to cross the Strait of Hormuz, removing at least one concern for the organizers about its actual presence at the sporting event. It is currently in the Saudi port of Jeddah.
According to the schedule available on the company’s website, the Aroya will remain in the Red Sea until the repositioning in the Mediterranean, which will take place via an 8-day journey departing from Jeddah and arriving in Istanbul on May 28 next.
