Terminal Spinelli, concession renewed with changes

The Management Committee of the Western Ligurian Sea Port System Authority (Genoa and Savona ports) has approved the renewal - with a redefinition of the operating conditions - of the concession for the Genoa port terminal (51% Spinelli Group and 49% Hapag Lloyd), for 29 years: until 31 December 2054. The resolution was approved by a majority, with the representatives of the Liguria Region and Genoa City Council abstaining. The decision on the renewal came after a favourable opinion by the Advisory Committee, voted in this case with the abstention of the terminal operators and industrialists.

The measure, explains a note from the Adsp, "represents the outcome of a complex path, initiated following the Council of State's ruling at the end of 2024, which had annulled the original 2016 concession, due to inconsistency with the Port Master Plan. The Authority followed up the pronouncement by launching a new technical and legal investigation, developed over several stages, with service conferences and technical-legal in-depth studies carried out in recent months. In these venues, the necessary prerequisites for the definitive granting of the concession were verified and the criteria for the concrete application of the concept of functional prevalence were defined".

The new title, the Adsp further specifies, "redefines the terminal's operating conditions, bringing them back to the multipurpose function prescribed in compliance with the Council of State's ruling and the current Regulatory Plan. In this way, the continuity of traffic, the protection of employment, and full consistency with port planning is guaranteed, while waiting for the conclusion of the appeals still pending".

The concession "introduces specific constraints, aimed at guaranteeing the full flexibility of a multipurpose terminal, imposing the use of compatible equipment and defining the operational layout according to the prescriptions of the Adsp, on which the latter has addressed a specific question to the Transport Regulatory Authority, in order to clarify every aspect, including regulatory aspects, in the field of competition, providing, moreover, an innovative system of economic and administrative sanctions to ensure compliance with the rules".

The renewal of the concession for the Genoa port terminal, says the Authority's president, Matteo Paroli, "represents the result of intense work, carried out in full compliance with the Council of State's ruling. The System Authority has tackled a complex process with rigour and transparency, which has required in-depth technical investigations, service conferences, and the qualified assistance of the Attorney General's Office.