3' min read
3' min read
Sustainability, a theme dear to a maritime city like Genoa, will also be the focus of attention at the International Boat Show this year.
The topic represents a major challenge, first and foremost, for the marine industry, whose players are developing increasingly sophisticated technologies to protect the environment. The most important Ligurian boatyards, in particular, are focusing on new energy generation systems, both for on-board electricity and propulsion, designed to minimise emissions. This is the case of Sanlorenzo, the shipyard in Ameglia (La Spezia) specialising in the construction of luxury yachts, which aims to deliver the first large yacht with totally carbon neutral propulsion by 2030. In the meantime, it has reached two milestones in 2024: the delivery of the first 50Steel unit (50 metres) equipped with a green methanol fuel cell reformer to power the on-board hotel and the two chase boats from the Bluegame division, created to flank as many America's Cup teams (American magic and the French Orient express racing team), with exclusively hydrogen-powered, zero-emission propulsion. But also the Permare group of Sanremo, with its Amer Yachts brand, is presenting a boat, the Amer 120 (35.5 metres), equipped with the selective catalytic reduction system, which reduces emissions. Permare has also been studying new environmentally friendly materials for yacht hulls for some time.
For the Boat Show, moreover, sustainability is both a great development and positioning opportunity. "Along this path - underlines Maurizio Grosso, the Show's technical and sustainability manager - Confindustria nautica and I saloni nautici (the company that manages the Show, ndr) have adopted, as early as 2020, the Sustainability honor code, which has been shared with exhibitors and with all those involved in the process of organising and setting up Genoa Boat Show, an international benchmark for our industry. With this 64th edition we wanted to design an event increasingly adherent to sustainability standards, setting ourselves the goal of achieving the Iso 20121 certification for the organisation of sustainable events".
The Show's commitment to this theme is also expressed in the organisation of the third edition of Shaping the future - World yachting sustainability forum, a meeting organised by Confindustria nautica, in cooperation with International boat industry. This year the focus will be on life cycle assessment, an in-depth analysis of the applications and economic benefits of sustainability and its impact on innovation. Still in the same direction, but this time with a social and health-promoting implication, this edition of the Genoa event also focuses on support for the Giannina Gaslini Paediatric Institute, one of the most important paediatric hospitals in the field of treatment and research at international level. Thanks to the collaboration established with the Gaslininsieme Foundation, in fact, through the purchase of e-tickets for the event, funds will be raised with the aim of donating a neonatal ventilator to the hospital.
In line with the sustainable footprint is also the show's communication campaign, with a new logo and the slogan We are made of sea, which aims to underline how the Genoa Boat Show is constantly developing and transforming, increasingly consolidating itself as a reference point for the boating market. It changes in shape, Grosso further explains, "but its DNA remains faithful to itself and its values. Identity and change coexist in a single soul inspired by the sea. We are made of sea is not just a payoff but a precise commitment to continue along the path, traced out years ago, for the defence and respect of the sea and more generally for sustainability".
