The Port System Authority of the Central Adriatic Sea (ADSP) and Italian shipbuilding company Fincantieri have signed a program agreement to promote the development of the port of Ancona in Italy.
Pierroberto Folgiero, CEO and managing director of Fincantieri, and Vincenzo Garofalo, president of ADSP, signed the agreement on 13 November.
According to the statement, the goal of the agreement is to develop the port’s current infrastructure – construction piers, dry dock, technological and lifting facilities – and to employ it for the construction of ships of greater size and tonnage, both in the cruise and merchant sector.
Vincenzo Garofalo noted that it is "An agreement and an investment that will have a strong impact on the future development prospects of the port of Ancona, with positive economic and social repercussions on the city and the region. Fincantieri, one of the port's primary operators, has thus reaffirmed its confidence in the possibilities of growth and development of the facility in Ancona and the entire port infrastructure."
The investment is around €80 million (US$87 million), half of which is publicly funded. The two parties will use €20 million for the building of a new construction pier and €20 million for the extension of the dry dock, including the securing of the breakwater.
The remaining €40 million will come from a private investment by Fincantieri as part of the procedure for the granting of the new state concession for the next 40 years and will concern the development of shipbuilding in the port of Ancona.
The Group's investment consists of industrial projects aimed at achieving the highest production and quality levels according to the best international standards in the sector.
The program agreement follows the Memorandum of Understanding for strategic infrastructural investments for the development of shipbuilding in the port of Ancona in 2018 signed by Italy's Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport and the Authority, and the subsequent ministerial decree with which the public financing of €40 million was approved.
"With the development of the port of Ancona, we’re moving into the future with ambition and innovation. This agreement underscores our ability to invest in the Italian system and to create value for the region and the entire shipbuilding sector. It’s an important step: to make things happen resources aren’t enough, you have to put them on the ground," stated Pierroberto Folgiero.
