Nautical supply chain, first in Italy Liguria and Upper Mediterranean

The Upper Mediterranean production pole (with the provinces of Genoa, La Spezia, Massa-Carrara and Lucca) is in first place in the nautical shipbuilding sector, in terms of number of companies, turnover and employees, compared to the other four Italian territorial poles in the sector. This is what emerges from the market analysis carried out, considering the year 2023, by the Edison Foundation and included in the Nautica in cifre 2024, i.e. the study that Confindustria nautica (the Italian Marine Industry Confederation) presented yesterday at the opening of the Genoa Boat Show.

In the shipbuilding sector, therefore, the Liguria-Tuscany cluster accounts for 22.2% of companies, 51.2% of turnover and 31.1% of employees out of the national total; within it, Liguria accounts for 9.3% of companies, 20.7% of turnover and 10.2% of employees, again in relation to the Italian total.

In short, the Upper Mediterranean far surpasses the Adriatic District (10.1% of enterprises, 26.4% of turnover and 20.1% of employees), which is in second place. It is followed by Lombardy (with 10.7% of companies, 7.9% of turnover and 7.4% of employees), Naples (with 8.3% of companies, 2.6% of turnover and 8.7% of employees) and Turin, the last of the territorial poles of boatyards (with 1.1% of companies, 1.3% of turnover and 1.8% of employees).

As regards, then, the main export destinations of the major national nautical poles, Fondazione Edison clarifies that, at a territorial level, it is not possible to have the export data relating only to pleasure boatbuilding but only that relating to Ateco code 301, i.e. "ships and boats", which also includes shipbuilding and merchant vessels. The export destinations of the Upper Mediterranean pole were analysed only with reference to the two most significant provinces, i.e. Lucca and La Spezia, whose exports are represented almost exclusively by pleasure boating. As regards La Spezia in particular, the province exports mainly (61.3% of the overall total) to the USA (23.2%), the Cayman Islands (13.6%), Hong Kong (9.1%), France (8.9%) and Malta (6.5%). The percentages for Cayman and Malta, of course, do not reflect the nationality of the shipowners but the international shipping register in which they have registered their boats. On the other hand, Liguria's export share of the national total for shipbuilding and boatbuilding is 31.5%.

To find out, however, the added value of the Ligurian nautical sector, compared to total regional economic activity, one has to go back to a study by the Symbola Foundation in 2021.