Mirko Benetti (Pisa Port Authority): "A €14 billion nautical industry requires a special law."

At the helm of the Municipality of Pisa's in-house company that manages the Canale dei Navicelli—an area home to major shipyards and Tuscan nautical companies—the president, in office for just under a year, updates SUPER YACHT 24 on initiatives aimed at boosting its further development and proposes changes in direction.

President Benetti, can the boost in the Italian nautical industry be described as structural? From your perspective, what are the true dimensions of this trend?

The numbers speak for themselves and confirm a historic leap: with a turnover of €14 billion, the recreational boating sector has surpassed the clothing industry. The real difference, however, lies in the starting conditions: the boating industry has achieved this leap without enjoying the same protections and incentives that the fashion industry has historically enjoyed. Clothing is a hyper-protected supply chain that, among other things, can be relocated anywhere. The boating industry, on the other hand, represents a unique excellence, a defining characteristic of our region, and inextricably linked to our local communities: it cannot be relocated. It's time for the country system to refocus on the Blue Economy with structural investments in port and shipyard areas. The demand for development coming from the market is impressive.

What exactly is needed to unlock this potential?

The sector deserves a special law to facilitate its expansion and expansion. Currently, we suffer from an endemic shortage of industrial areas for the construction of new yachts. We must overcome bureaucratic and administrative rigidities. At Navicelli, for example, we directly border the San Rossore Park: it's clear that effective compensation mechanisms must be found to allow the production areas to expand.

In this regard, reconciling industrial development with land conservation constraints is a complex challenge. How can we overcome this situation?

Let me be clear: I absolutely don't want to trivialize the role of superintendencies or parks, whose rules are based on important needs. However, we must establish new rules of the game. It's a huge economic contradiction that a thoroughfare like the Canale dei Navicelli, over 17 kilometers long, is only exploited to 10% of its potential. If we grant too much discretionary autonomy to park authorities, industrial activity will grind to a halt. Discretion must be reduced in favor of clear framework laws, with certain and peremptory response times. Let's put ourselves in the shoes of a foreign investor: faced with biblical timescales and infrastructure uncertainties, they would think twice before betting on Italy. The nautical industry today is a global market, not a local one. We must attract foreign capital to invest in our facilities and develop our workforce.

Let's move on to the management of the Navicelli Canal. What's new in terms of public property governance and planning?

Our primary function is regulatory, and we're doing so with ever-increasing effectiveness. We've embarked on a comprehensive reorganization process. But the real turning point, which we're working tirelessly on with the goal of presenting to the City of Pisa before the summer, is the new Port Master Plan. In historical memory, no planning tool of this scope has ever been developed for the Navicelli in over twenty years; the proposal was specifically requested in the service contract.

What does this new urban planning tool specifically provide?

Mayor Michele Conti has grand ambitions for the Navicelli area and has provided us with the ideal tools to translate them into practice. The Plan will include a thorough rezoning and the assignment of new areas. The goal, expressed in purely conceivable terms since the study is nearing completion, is to make room for new construction sites and new stakeholders ready to invest in the canal. In the meantime, we are moving quickly forward with public works: we have awarded the second lot of the sheet piling project, already funded with €30 million, and we expect to begin work on the third lot by October.

Then there's a little-discussed strategic internal infrastructure project: the navigation lock, which will increase the height of superyachts passing under the highway bridge. Where are we at?

"This is a very important project that many overlook. We were one of the few contracting authorities that chose to think ahead before laying the stones: we planned for 18-meter sheet piles, instead of the standard 12, specifically for the future basin. We are now in the final design phase and estimate the cost of the project to be around €3 million, covered partly by operational savings and partly by new funding. We are well underway and will soon be able to show the first images of the project."

However, a real bottleneck for the district remains at the sea exit: the Calambrone Bridge. Without a solution there, superyachts struggle to get out to sea. How can the situation be resolved?

We must be realistic. When the cruise hub and the Darsena Europa in Livorno are fully operational, if we maintain fifty-year-old infrastructure, we will face a huge traffic problem, both for residents and for users of port and cruise services. The state is doing its part—just think of the hundreds of millions invested—but public resources are finite and cannot cover every single need. The major industrial players who directly benefit from these infrastructures must do their part with a mindset of shared responsibility.

Are you proposing direct involvement of large private operators in the construction of public infrastructure?

"Exactly. My proposal is to bring everyone together and build the Calambrone Bridge infrastructure through shared project financing. I'm using this interview precisely to reaffirm the Port Authority, along with the Municipality of Pisa, as a forum for dialogue and coordination between the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport and the Tuscany Region. We need to find the most economical and rapid technical solution: we're evaluating several projects, including a very interesting one that involves a lateral opening of the bridge instead of the traditional central lifting."

Have you already tested the reaction of the major operators to this co-financing hypothesis?

I can tell you it's not a taboo. I've encountered a sensitivity and openness from some major industrial players that I honestly didn't expect. Of course, this theoretical sensitivity will then have to translate into concrete results, but the starting point is excellent. I expect to see the project completed within five years.

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