Complete infrastructure improvements. Revitalize cruise and recreational tourism, including luxury yachting, to enable Sardinia to become the Mediterranean's leading hub for servicing mega and giga yachts.
All this with "a strategic and synergistic vision based on specific program agreements with the Administrations and other bodies in the island territory."
These are some of the objectives set by Domenico Bagalà, the new president of the Sardinian Sea Port System Authority , whose appointment was ratified in recent days by Transport Minister Matteo Salvini.
Fifty-eight years old, an engineer with many years of international experience in the ports and tourism sector, Calabrian by origin but Sardinian by adoption, Bagalà was appointed following an agreement with the Sardinia Region after three months as Extraordinary Commissioner of the Sardinian Port System.
His starting point, he explains, will be " constant dialogue with other local administrations and bodies . This process has already begun in part, starting in the second half of August, with intensive port inspections and as part of the institutional activities envisaged by the decision-making conference with the municipalities for the continuation of the approval process for the System Strategic Planning Document."
Furthermore, "The Port Authority's new governance structure will be characterized by decisions rigorously based on studies of the regional production sector and geopolitical analyses of international transport markets. These are essential for marketing intelligence and business scouting processes aimed at attracting new traffic from reshoring and shortening the logistics chain. Particular attention will be paid to relaunching containers in the new Ro-Ro/Lo-Lo mix, geared toward North African markets."
Cargo, but also passengers, "with a further boost to cruise tourism," a new market "that could gradually conquer the island, including through specific packages starting from the System's ports. The Port Authority has already taken the first steps toward this by adequately raising awareness among companies operating in its ports. This initiative, if supported by permanent local networks composed of institutions and industry players , could provide significant impetus to the much-sought-after improvement in quality of home ports in the larger ports and further develop the luxury cultural cruise segment in ports with less accessible infrastructure but great excursion potential."
These market strategies "cannot ignore a new infrastructure development cycle that, in addition to the already existing Ro-Ro Terminal in Cagliari, the Oristano Service Centre, and the Porto Torres Breakwater, will see the addition of strategic interventions in the ports of Olbia, Golfo Aranci, Santa Teresa, Arbatax, Oristano, Portovesme, and Sarroch – Porto Foxi."
The governance of the Port Authority – Bagalà emphasizes – "will be primarily focused on supporting all environmental and energy policies aimed at reducing polluting emissions and creating new energy hubs for LNG and other alternative fuels," all "without neglecting the already underway process of digitalizing port operations."
Another key aspect of the mandate, Bagalà emphasizes, "will be to promote synergistic action among the island's many tourist ports, which can inject new life into both the recreational tourism sector and the thriving shipbuilding industry, which sees Sardinia as a candidate to become the Mediterranean's leading hub for servicing mega and giga yachts."
Finally, "a focus on the specialized training of employees and port operators, as well as specific agreements with universities, will ensure that new challenges are addressed through the implementation of specific degree and master's programs aimed at developing professionals who can play a key role in the growth of the Blue Economy in all its various and complex key components."
"This is a great challenge I have been called upon to undertake. I thank the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Matteo Salvini, Deputy Minister Edoardo Rixi, and the President of the Region, Alessandra Todde, for their trust," says Domenico Bagalà, President of the Port Authority of the Sardinian Sea. "I therefore feel a personal duty, and one toward the regional port community, to devote my full commitment to creating the conditions for structural growth in the port system and to implementing new strategies that respond to the international dynamics of the maritime sector. Sardinian ports are an essential driving force for the regional economy, and beyond; therefore, they deserve shared attention and care with all local administrations and bodies, so that a new virtuous cycle can be triggered that, I am certain, will bring significant and widespread economic, social, and employment benefits." All this, obviously, with the support of the highly professional managers and employees present at the AdSP, with whom I intend to build a loyal team spirit."
(Unioneonline)