Azimut Benetti awarded a 10-year concession for the Livorno dry docks
Port Authority President Guerrieri now expects "the company to follow through on its long-awaited commitments to employment growth."
The concession contract for the assignment of the dry dock complex in the port of Livorno to Azimut Benetti for a period of 10 years was signed yesterday evening. The Northern Tyrrhenian Sea Port Authority announced the deal, thus bringing to a close a nearly seven-year story that began with the sinking of the Urania and the tragic death of a worker in the summer of 2015.
A statement from the Port Authority recalls that "the ensuing investigations and the disputes that arose among the insurance companies stalled the procedure for years. Further delays were further contributed by the legal initiatives of the ship repair company Jobson, aimed at challenging the validity of the provisional award of the docks to competitor Azimut Benetti."
After freezing the tender process, suspending it pending a decision on the merits, in June 2021 the Tuscany Regional Administrative Court (TAR) ruled against the appeals, declaring them partly inadmissible and partly inadmissible. Almost a year after that ruling, after completing all the necessary investigations and awaiting the expiration of the deadline for Jobson to file a potential appeal with the Council of State, the Port Authority has thus taken the final step towards awarding the concession to Azimut.
"The awarding of the concession to the Azimut-Benetti shipyard for the approximately 92 square meters of water between docks 76 and 78 of the Livorno port is of enormous historical significance. As a director of the state property agency, I prepared the tender process in 2014, thus initiating a difficult process that I now see finally coming to a close," stated Matteo Paroli, Secretary General of the Livorno Port Authority.
For President Luciano Guerrieri, signing the concession agreement is the missing piece to "finally leave behind years of tragedies, legal disputes, and operational difficulties. It is our hope that the concession process will ensure the broadest possible involvement of local businesses. I also expect the company to follow through on its long-awaited commitments to employment growth."
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