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Record number of cruise passengers for the port of Civitavecchia which, in 2023, will well exceed the threshold of 3 million passengers handled on the docks. The president of the central-southern Tyrrhenian port system authority, Pino Musolino, celebrated the record, together with John Portelli, general manager of Roma cruise terminal, the company owned by Costa Crociere, MSC and Royal Caribbean, which manages the piers. of passenger ships. The deputy minister of Transport, Edoardo Rixi, also participated in the ceremony.
«The 2.69 million passengers totaled in 2019 (before Covid, which emptied the Roman cruise docks, ed.) – said Musolino – were already a record for this port. But the 3 million reached now are a historic record compared to all Italian ports.”
Target 3.5 million within two years
It was then Portelli who went into more detail about the numbers. «The 3 million target has been reached by 31 October 2023; we plan to finish the year even higher, with 3.29 million. Furthermore, we have the objective of reaching 3.5 million in 2025.” Furthermore, Portelli continued, an equally significant figure is the number of passengers who embark and disembark (turnaround) in Civitavecchia, compared to those who only transit in the port.
«In 2019 – he explained – 38% of the total cruise passengers arriving at the port were in turnaround while this year the percentage rose to 47%. This is important because the dock workers work on turnaround passengers to carry the bags, but more security personnel are also used for checks; and then there are repercussions on hotels and bed & breakfasts, because many cruise passengers sleep in Civitavecchia or Rome.”
Impacts on the territory
Furthermore, he added, «there is the supply of ships: we average 60 thousand tons of supplies every year. And again there are the buses, the escorts, the check-in staff. In total, compared to a large ship, which handles 8-9 thousand passengers, 300 people can work in the area, if not more”.