Port officials will be plenty busy in Livorno this year, managing 362 cruise calls and 730,000 cruise passengers, with an additional 20,000 passengers expected in 2019.

“Livorno is more involved in luxury cruise traffic,” said Giovanni Spadoni, technical and commercial director. “All the major luxury brands are calling at Livorno and many are staying overnight.”

Livorno is a perfect fit for those small vessels, he continued, as the port’s small ship cruise berth is located within walking distance to the downtown area and the iconic Old Fortress.

“For the megaships we offer three dedicated priority berths and one terminal used mainly for partial turnarounds which takes advantage of the proximity to Pisa International Airport,” Spadoni said.

The port presents itself as the gateway to Tuscany, and a short distance to Pisa, Lucca, Firenze and Siena.

A privatization of the port is also now complete, with MSC as one of the new owners.

In addition to three-big ship berths, the port can accommodate up to five smaller ships at once, and follows MedCruise’s standardized berth reservation process.

“We have commercial agreements with the major cruise lines which provide preferentiality for long term volume agreements,” Spadoni added.

Big plans are underway, led by a 90 million euro investment to add four dedicated megaship berths and new terminals. The water depth around the port was also recently dredged to 15 meters, and the access channel was widened to accommodate larger cruise ships.

Pierside, the port can offer shorepower, and has been approved for a LNG terminal, Spadoni said, which would allow it to supply the next generation of LNG-powered cruise vessels.

“We are very confident that the growth of our port and its infrastructure will match with the cruise sector capacity growth,” he continued. “As with all the Mediterranean ports, the hope is that in a reasonable time period the geopolitical situation and the peace process will also improve in the South and East Mediterranean regions.”