The maneuvers are there. Very strong. Accompanied by a trio of names. The "mainlanders" are casting their eye on the Port Authority of Sardinia, a little jewel with a budget of 782 million, with nine ports to manage and the presidency seat that will be available in July. Just behind us, 2024, with all positive signs. From passengers to goods, passing through cruise transits. The map of ambitions leads in two directions: north towards Liguria, south towards Calabria. And now this potential alliance on the water's edge risks tearing away from the Sardinians a gold mine of seafront planning. Stuff that weighs double on an island.

The painting

The plan for the “Mare di Sardegna” Authority, which has its base in Cagliari and its other main headquarters in Olbia, has been taking shape for a few weeks. But the regional maritime system includes all first-level ports, for industrial or tourist reasons. From Sarroch to Portovesme; from Oristano to Porto Torres; from Santa Teresa to Golfo Aranci and Arbatax. A complete circumnavigation that is worth the largest body in Italy. This element alone is enough to explain the yearnings for the island Authority. One of the fourteen that are counted at a national level. All expire and only in Genoa has the new president been designated (barring unlikely clear moonlights). In Sardinia, after two consecutive mandates, the only ones allowed by law, Massimo Deiana, the man of care, the professor-assessor for Transport who brought the body's budget from 72 million to 782 in eight years, must step down.

The Commissioner

The first name circulating for the seat at the Dogana pier is that of Federica Montaresi, born in 1974, from Sarzana, a municipality in the La Spezia area where her husband Alessio Cavarra was mayor from 2013 to 2018. Not an insignificant marriage, celebrated in 2015, with the elite of Ligurian politics invited to the banquet. At the time, he was a Democrat loyal to former minister Andrea Orlando who in 2014 even proposed him as regional secretary of the Democrats. But in 2019 the former mayor left the Democratic Party to migrate with Matteo Renzi to Italia Viva. Then the second divorce in record time, in the space of a year, and the entry into Forza Italia. A party geography with a leap to the right and which could now be useful to Montaresi, an employee of the Port Authority in La Spezia, where in October 2022, coincidentally a month after the elections won by Giorgia Meloni, she was appointed general secretary. Then, in September 2024, the further promotion to extraordinary commissioner. Not a small thing for an official, executive B of the entity, a transport engineer. For Montaresi not even a day of experience in Sardinia.

The Savonese

The appointments to port authorities are decided by the Ministry of Infrastructure. So Matteo Salvini. To whom, at least informally, the other two names in the running will also have arrived, given that in Cagliari there is a lot of talk about it. One is Alessandro Becce, born in 1961. He has already led a Port Authority, not coincidentally always in his homeland, in Liguria. If only because knowledge of the territory is the first viaticum for good governance. Becce, unlike Montaresi, has worked in Sardinia. He was the CEO of Cict, the Cagliari International Container Terminal of the Contship Italia Group, founded in Genoa in 1969. An adventure, that of the srl in Sardinia, which ended very badly. In 2019, the farewell to the Port Canal of the capital, leaving something like two hundred and ten workers of the Island without a paycheck. Two hundred and ten families. On September 10, the Maritime Authority, through the Management Committee, also revoked the company's business license.

The third papabile

Another potential candidate was also director at Cict. Equally not a new name. It is Domenico Bagalà, born in 1967, Calabrian from Vibo Valentia. Bagalà's aspirations to lead the Sardinian Port Authority had also bounced back in 2017. Before the Deiana era. Then it worked more or less as one hopes it will today: the Region - then led by the Democratic Party with Francesco Pigliaru as governor - did not want to hear of taking the government of the ports away from the Sardinians. The Democrats engaged in the battle (won) for self-determination. Thus came the designation of Deiana, promoted on the field with the reconfirmation in 2021. Eight years later, the Calabrian is trying again.

The Region

Obviously, Alessandra Todde's government, where the Democratic Party is still the first party in the coalition but in sharecropping with the president through whom all decisions pass, will have to have its say. It was March 3 when the issue of ports, at least officially, was at the center of the debate on the Government-Region axis. Deputy Minister Alessandro Rixi arrived in Cagliari, received in Viale Trento by the governor. In the post-meeting note, only planes and trains were mentioned. No reference, however, to the Port Authority. Only Rixi, incidentally also from Genoa, mentioned the topic in the afternoon of that same day: from Molo Ichnusa, on the sidelines of the press conference with Deiana, he limited himself to saying that the presidency would be agreed with the government. "This is why I am going around all the regions affected by the nominations." The fact is that Todde is still keeping his cards close to his chest. But the Deiana cure was obviously also a team effort and that is where the Region has the duty to look, before giving the green light to the "continental" climb.

Works in progress

Today the Sardinian Port Authority is a body that grinds out development. The investment book is open on all the ports of the island. The ro.ro terminal in Cagliari is a 348 million project. The dredging in Olbia is worth 98, 52 will be spent on the Porto Torres breakwater, a barrier that protects the entrance from the waves. Again: in all three maritime hubs, but also in Golfo Aranci and Portovesme, the docks will be electrified with 72 million, 21 of which will be destined for Oristano.

The Legacy

Then there are the dry numbers. The summary of the three assets of the maritime system: passengers, goods and cruises. The first piece is the commercial port. The “Mare di Sardegna” closed 2024 with over 6.5 million tickets sold. It is a +4.5% on 2023. With Olbia the first Italian port with 3,692,857 landings, between arrivals and departures. Followed by Porto Torres (1,029,312) and Golfo Aranci (552,016). Goods: 41.7 million tons transited through the Island, always a year ago: +1.7% in twelve months. Finally, cruise passengers who brought the plus sign to 57.5%: 684,061 vacationers, with Cagliari dominating the market with 541,212 arrivals. Then Olbia (94,782) and Golfo Aranci (37,184). In short, a legacy of good governance. There are times, like this, when parochialism would make sense.

Alexandra Card

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