Sardinia is poised to become a leading Mediterranean hub for superyachts.
Regional President Solinas has asked to avoid "excessive morbidity" in the checks to prevent recreational vessels from being driven away.
At the Forum on Possible Luxury organized by Federagenti Yacht in Porto Cervo, Giovanni Chessa, Councillor for Tourism, Crafts and Commerce of the Sardinia Region, proposed a "Mediterranean super-luxury hub project at sea. This project would involve an integrated system of shipyards (for yacht construction and maintenance), ports, and airports (a direct connection to Dubai is also coming to the three Sardinian ports). This would effectively give Sardinia the Mediterranean leadership in the large-scale yachting market, with all the benefits this entails."
A challenge taken up by Federagenti, which has been organizing the Forum on Possible Luxury since 2015 and which – as emphasized by its President Alessandro Santi – is preparing from a privileged vantage point to make a decisive contribution (through a multi-year plan) to the construction of a Project Italy for the country's maritime sector.
"Nearly 6,000 pleasure boats are underway, 668 under construction, 342 of which are in Italy. Saudi Arabia leads the way, closely followed by the United Arab Emirates, among new yacht owners, who are on average nine years younger today than in recent years." These industry data, provided by Lorenzo Pollicardo, Technical Director of the SYBAss association, "are coupled with a trend of technological innovation, partly the result of the ever-increasing demand for high-tech, including green, technology from future yacht owners, but also of a growing focus by environmental movements on yachts as generators of pollution."
According to Teo Titi, President of Federagenti Yacht, "Italy adds an element of self-harm to this global picture, represented by a bureaucratic burden and regulations that vary from port to port, as well as a completely inadequate number of ports capable of accommodating large yachts. This is a double paradox, given that a giga yacht can cost over €50.000 a day," the federation states in a statement.
The spotlight is also on major nautical projects in Sardinia, three in particular. The first concerns the Olbia area, where the SNO group is building a large, diversified center for the maintenance and hospitality of megayachts with
An investment of over €100 million. In Cagliari, Marina di Porto Rotondo, in collaboration with a Dubai-based company and the Montecarlo marina, is also building a megayacht base worth approximately €34 million. This port—as emphasized by Massimo Deiana, President of the Sardinian Sea Port Authority—is also offering 15 lots equipped with a travel lift, always serving the high-end shipbuilding industry.
The Sardinia Region President, Christian Solinas, concluded the Porto Cervo conference organized by Federagenti with a strong emphasis on the sector's untapped potential, highlighting the employment figures generated by the luxury yachting industry (a maxi yacht employs a full-time crew of 50 and provides work for over 250 entrepreneurs).
Solinas emphasized how a distorted concept of supposed social justice risks causing unspeakable damage to a sector that, for regions like Sardinia, now more than ever represents the future. The governor of Sardinia spoke of "excessive morbidity" in controls that risk alienating a market and users that represent added value from Italian destinations, and obviously from Sardinian ones. A luxury yacht spends between €2,3 and €6 million annually, according to Federagenti: "It's money that circulates," Solinas concluded, "and stays within the territory." This is why Sardinia is vying to become the most important nautical hub in the Mediterranean.
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