by Bianca d’Antonio
Tomaso Cognolato, at the helm in Naples for the past eight years, in the role of managing director of the company Terminal Napoli, (a joint stock company owned by Costa Cruises, Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, MSC Cruises, Marinvest and Alilauro) that manages the cruise movement in the Neapolitan port from the Maritime Station in the Piazzale Angioino, calls this experience of his “interesting and nerve-wracking. Interesting because the system and the market are very dynamic, nerve-wracking because many things get stuck in bureaucracy and public dynamics.”
But, despite this, his commitment and enthusiasm in tackling new challenges in the industry remain unchanged. Shall we talk about this with reference to the data on cruise movement in 2023 and the forecast for 2024?
“The results are very satisfactory I would say. The year 2023 ended with 1,650,000 passengers and 446 ship calls. For 2024 the forecast is about 1,700,000 passengers and 452 ship calls.”
What are your thoughts on the St. Vincent Pier: could it be beneficial to the growth of the number of cruises in the city?
“Definitely yes. The issue to be defined, apart from the need for major works on both the land side and the sea (quay consolidation and seabed excavation with recovery of wrecks on the bottom), is the access to the quay and the movement of means of service to the ships (coaches and trucks).”
Could mini-cruises be envisioned to move passengers by motor vessel to the tourist resorts in the gulf?
“That depends on what is intended by minicruises: the topic of motorships is certainly viable but the docking place for them needs to be defined both in the port of Naples and in the resorts in the gulf, which is always quite complex.”
Could this be an idea to make the best use of the sea resource and make the traffic flow to the small coastal towns, thus taking away from the narrow, winding and dangerous roads which are often blocked by large buses?
“Definitely yes, but the two points of the previous question remain to be cleared: about the where, in the port of Naples and especially in the gulf resorts that in the high season fail to meet tourist traffic by having neither a sufficient number of berths nor suitable moorings.”
What do you think would be needed for the Naples Terminal to make it even more modern and attractive to cruise ships that have become gigantic today?
“It is actually not so much a question of size, but rather of the number of berths that today are inadequate to meet the demand. So we would need a new quay of a suitable dimension to accommodate two more ships. In other respects, Terminal Napoli is attractive to cruise passengers because it is located in the center of the city and is connected, thanks to the subway that flows right in front of the terminal, to all its sights. In addition, from the Angioino pier you can reach directly on foot to the Beverello pier, from where hydrofoils to the islands depart. Moreover, we are also solving the problem of pollution thanks to cold ironing. The project of the on shore power system is proceeding and so by mid-2026 we should be ready to give ‘power’ to the ships in port that will no longer have their engines running.”
