Genoa’s San Giorgio del Porto shipyard has won a $55 million contract to convert the ‘Costa neoRiviera’ into the ‘AIDAmira’.
She is due to arrive on 30th October and leave on 28th November under the AIDA banner.
A signing ceremony was held on 25th September between Michael Thamm (pictured, right), Group CEO Costa Group and Carnival Asia, and Ferdinando Garrè (pictured, left), CEO of San Giorgio del Porto, in the presence of the President of the Western Ligurian Sea Port Authority, Paolo Emilio Signorini and the Councilor for City Planning, Public Property and Urban Renewal of the Municipality of Genoa, Simonetta Cenci.
Upon her redelivery, she will become the fourth cruise ship in the AIDA slection programme, which aims to take guests to ‘off the beat’ places. She is to be re-christened at Palma, Majorca on 29th November.
Around 1,000 workers will be involved-150 working directly for the shipyard with the balance being sub-contractor employees.
“This new investment in the city of Genoa, with a local partner like San Giorgio del Porto, is a further tangible sign of our link with Genoa and Liguria and of the positive impact that our company can have locally,” said Thamm. “We have carried out a study on this subject, which has given very impressive results: in just one year, the Costa Group has generated an economic impact in Europe of €12.6 bill and over 63,000 jobs.
“It is precisely the shipbuilding industry that accounts for the largest part of this impact, thanks to the plan to expand and renew our fleet, but also the contribution that comes directly from each guest, amounting on average to €74.60 in every port visited, is particularly significant. Italy is among the top destinations for our guests, with 3.2 mill passenger movements, a figure that is going to grow also thanks to ‘AIDAmira’, which will be calling at three ports in Southern Italy next summer,” he said.
“We are honoured that the Costa Group continues to give us confidence and to believe in the know-how and technical skills of the Genoese shipbuilding industry and of San Giorgio del Porto in particular, despite the many infrastructure-related difficulties that continue to prevent the full development of shiprepair and refitting activities. Costa’s decision to bring a job of this magnitude to Genoa could not be taken for granted and for this we are grateful to the company,” added Garrè.
