The President of Confindustria Nautica, Saverio Cecchi, spoke today at the meeting on the Economy of the Sea “Beyond the horizon: prospects and challenges of a new industrial policy for the sea”, organized by Confindustria, representing how the nautical industry from pleasure craft, its production chain and the nautical tourism industry are an extraordinary lever for the competitive relaunch of the country, as well as, more generally, of the European Union.

In particular, speaking as part of the “Let’s build the future” panel, Cecchi recalled how the title itself links very well with sector data. “Unlike all the other sectors of the maritime cluster” – he recalled – “we hold 51% of the world market for the construction of pleasure ships and are leaders in accessories and inflatable boats. Therefore, the future of world boating is written by Italy.”

Although according to official data from the International Maritime Organisation, all global nautical activities account for only 0.06% of total CO2 emissions, the Italian industry is also a leader in planning their reduction and a sustainable future: new forms of hull , aimed at reducing consumption, new propulsion systems in line with the reduction of emissions, the growing use of recycled or recyclable materials, the use of biocompatible paints for the hulls.

“The Italian nautical industry does all this” – continued the President of Confindustria Nautica – “because it believes that the statistically irrelevant impact and the very limited use time of a pleasure boat do not allow it to avoid giving its contribution”.

Also for this reason, the National Association of the sector organized the first world forum for the sustainability of the nautical industries, where companies were able to compare themselves with other sectors to borrow and share solutions and technologies.

Combining everything with craft, finishing, design and quality skills that are unparalleled in the world and that make Italy and the Genoa International Boat Show the reference, like Milan and the Salone del Mobile for Furnishings.

“Regarding these issues” – concluded Cecchi – “if we don’t want to just make propaganda, we must affirm two truths: it is necessary to encourage competition also in the world of research, not making the mistake that Europe made for the automotive sector , imposing a single solution from above, electric propulsion; then, we must guarantee the contextual conditions that allow for the many investments that are necessary”.

For Confindustria Nautica the issue of the regulatory context is fundamental. These are the rules of the game, which however must be adapted taking into account the numbers that this sector expresses, the need to attract capital and the need to modernize the infrastructure.

Regarding the latter, Italy has chosen to have the tourist ports built by private individuals, unlike other countries and our own merchant ports which are instead the result of public intervention. Be careful, therefore, of ideological choices like those of Monti, which make investors flee. So, for example, the topic of state concessions for tourist ports cannot be treated with superficiality and clichés – as too often happens in the press – or by assimilating tourist ports to beaches, as the measures of the Draghi Government have done.

Rome, 12 December 2023