Minister Salvini has just taken to the stage at the naming ceremony of the MSC Celestino Maresca, which coincides with the thirtieth anniversary of the framework program agreement on the port and therefore with the activities of the terminal operator MCT: “Sustainability cannot be achieved through taxes – he stated – but it is simply a gift to other economic powers. This is not an ecological transaction but suicide, I will go to the end. Those who invite politics to unite – he specified – find me in agreement”. To then add: “Just as the port of Gioia is important for the whole of Italy, the Messina bridge will also be a single corridor that will connect Sicily to Europe. Let’s make sure that today is the day of “yes” but that do not close this afternoon. To the “yes” people I say: let’s make ourselves heard more often because the “no” people are a minority but well organized while those who are for the “yes”, even if the other large majority, are often silent”.
In the shadow of the gigantic cranes and the majestic vessel, two large stands, the main one is larger where the event is taking place and another for subsequent convivial moments, host all the highest regional and territorial authorities; civil and military personnel and the management of the Med Center Container (MCT) terminal company which is part of the MSC group.
Also present were the owner of the shipping group Gianluigi Aponte, the president of the Occhiuto Region; the president of the AdSP of the Southern Tyrrhenian and Ionian Seas Andrea Agostinelli, the godmother of the ceremony Angela Maresca. At this moment it is Gianlugi Aponte himself who takes the floor, presenting the new container ship which will be part of a fleet of 14 latest generation ships and remembering the figure of commander Celestino Maresca.
Photos and videos by Attilio Morabito
Maccarini (MSC): “Gioia Tauro doesn’t stop”
“Gioia Tauro doesn’t stop”: these are the words of Paolo Maccarini, director of Til, the terminal arm of the MSC group, who spoke at the baptism ceremony of the MSC “Celestino Maresca” immediately after the owner Gianluigi Aponte, highlighting that the company’s objective is that of reaching 7 million Teus movements. Maccarini began by recalling the dramatic period of mass layoffs in 2017 at the port of Gioia Tauro, averted precisely by the takeover of the MSC group at the helm of the Calabrian port by taking over all of the shares in MCT. “Since then it has been a crescendo” – remarked the manager, focusing on the robust relaunch plan which since 2019 has seen first of all the reinstatement of all the dismissed workers and then 220 million euros invested in the Calabrian infrastructure, the first hub in Italy and among the first in Europe, with the purchase of some of the highest and highest performing cranes in the world and vehicles
of square. “We have gone from 813 employees – Maccarini specified – to the current 1260, activating an industry of around 4 thousand workers and from 2 million containers handled to 3 and a half million today. We expect – he concluded – the arrival of another 6 cranes, 20 yard vehicles and other important infrastructure works”.
Agostinelli (Adsp): “Let a ministerial table open”
After him, the word passed to the president of the Port System Authority Andrea Agostinelli, very tough on the ETS directive issue: “we are not affected by the majesty of the “Celestino Maresca” – he began – we are well accustomed to Gioia Tauro hosting even two ships of this size and fully loaded at a time. Ours is a very modern and fantastic port thanks to private investments but also to the public ones, with dream seabeds that we plan to further explore. We also have the railway – he added – and we will very soon have a center for ship repairs. We represent southern excellence at the service of logistics. Today it should have been the day of Calabrian pride but a European directive risks cutting us off. There is a need, even before a review, for the six European ports to be recognized as having a level playing field with respect to TngerMed and the North African ports which will continue to operate undisturbed. It is a directive that we do not like – continued Agostinelli – but I am confident that with political action and dialogue it can still be remedied. Don’t be afraid – he then said, addressing the dock workers – you will not be alone. I officially ask Minister Salvini and Governor Occhiuto to open a discussion with a ministerial table”. Next, at this precise moment, the president of the Occhiuto Region intervenes and is focusing on the need to diversify activities for the port of Gioia Tauro, today only a transhipment hub, and above all to develop logistics.