Nautical and sustainability: "It's difficult to find solutions today," according to Ighina (Azimut Benetti).

Genoa - When it comes to sustainability, the nautical sector still has a long way to go before achieving significant and appreciable results. This seems to be the message emerging from the conference entitled "The Nautical Industry and Sustainability," organized by Deloitte during the Genoa International Boat Show.

The session, moderated by Francesca Tognetti, was opened by Francesco Munari, attorney at law of Deloitte Legal, emphasizing that maritime transport has "an abundant and clear regulatory framework, with international conventions and regulations that incentivize or require the sector to adopt increasingly sustainable tools. However, this is not yet the case in recreational shipping, so this is both a challenge and an opportunity, because we should begin addressing these regulatory aspects and developing best practices from the ground up before other countries, which may have competing interests, do so." According to the legal expert, the challenge "must be met by the institutions that manage state-owned maritime property and must also have a vested interest in making this heritage profitable. The nautical industry has significant employment and tourism benefits."

Paolo Piacenza, Secretary General of the Western Ligurian Sea Port Authority, reviewing the institution's commitment to this matter, stated that "sustainability is a highly valued topic in evaluating business plans." In the past, the Genoa Port Authority had even considered awarding a higher score to projects and business plans that included green investments, but to date, a "reward" for this approach has not yet been established.

Carlo Ighina, head of the Azimut Benetti Group's Research & Development division, made a particularly significant contribution, explaining how complex it actually is to achieve significant results and invest in sustainability projects in the nautical sector, especially large-scale vessels.

"In our group, the first prototype of a hybrid-powered vessel dates back to 2011, and the first research project for a study into boat dismantling dates back to the three-year period 2011-2014, when the current awareness of sustainability wasn't there yet. Companies' attention has grown in tandem with customer awareness," explained Ighina, emphasizing the importance of both process and product sustainability. "The topic is highly complex globally, and it's no different for the nautical industry. Finding an effective solution is far from trivial; there's a lot of new emerging, but in ten years there hasn't been a leap in disruptive technology."

The person at the helm of the Azimut Benetti group's research and innovation projects admitted that on superyachts, "the electrification of engines is not possible today (only hybrid solutions), or it can be adopted, but only on smaller boats. Effective solutions exist in this regard, but for onboard auxiliary engines and for onboard energy needs." These are the so-called hotel services. Consequently, the emerging scenario is as follows: small boats can navigate full electric, electric on medium-sized yachts only on auxiliary propulsion while for large yachts we look at the electrical balance for on-board systems.

Regarding process innovation, Engineer Ighina stated that steel and other easily recyclable materials still dominate construction today. "The challenge of the future is to recycle composites, a very lightweight structural solution. The challenge will therefore be recyclable composites, which, however, require a different production process. There's a lot of work to be done, but there's still a lot of work to be done."

In conclusion, the expert Azimut-Benetti engineer admitted that "yachts are highly complex objects: weight, size, etc. In all sectors where high power is involved, it's difficult to find necessary solutions today." Regarding hydrogen propulsion, he added that "it's very fascinating but has limitations." But above all, "it has a problem: its large size because it requires 4-6 times more storage space than diesel tanks. It takes up valuable cargo in both the nautical and commercial shipping sectors." Methanol, synthetic fuels, and carbon capture will be some of the other topics we'll hear more about in the future.

Awareness among shipowners has grown significantly, although few consider, for example, the end-of-life of their yacht. The average age of a pleasure boat or vessel is 25 years, but it can easily exceed 40. Yacht owners' primary focus and requests regarding sustainability are currently almost exclusively limited to onboard systems.

Franco Cavagnaro, president of Tigullio Shipping (a tourist port in Chiavari, part of the Marinedi Group), discussed how his company became a marina resort, pointing out the "thickness of national laws conflicting with regional ones," thus drawing attention to existing regulatory obstacles. Meanwhile, Tigullio Shipping is playing its part as a "sustainable port" with a project to install solar panels and encouraging marina guests to ride bicycles on land.

Giuseppe Milici, partner at Deloitte Sustainability, emphasized the importance of "effective communication and sustainability reporting of interventions, ensuring comparability." Of particular interest is the fact that in the near future, "the obligation to prepare social reporting will not be limited to listed companies, which have long been committed to reporting their ESG commitments."

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