The Genoese ship repair sector has closed 2024 with excellent operational and economic results. This is shown by the data from the Ente Bacini, whose board of directors unanimously approved, in the session of 28 May 2025, the 2024 financial statements. Net profit stood at 959,661 euros, whilst the gross operating margin reached 4,414,808 euros, confirming the company's operational strength. The most significant figure concerns revenues, which touched the historic record of 15.4 million euros, highlighting growth that demonstrates the company's ability to intercept and satisfy market demand. This result takes on even greater value considering that it represents the fourth consecutive balance sheet closed in the black, after years of difficulties that had characterised the company's past.
The operational efficiency of the Ente Bacin is reflected in the usage data of its own structures. During 2024, 58 vessels were worked on in the five dry docks, generating a total occupation of 1,374 days. In parallel, the company's quays hosted 112 vessels for a total of 3,003 days of presence. The figures testify to high utilisation of the infrastructure: the occupation of the largest docks - numbers 3, 4 and 5 - reached an average of 90% of available days. Dock 4 recorded an occupation rate of 99%: out of 366 days in 2024, a leap year, it remained operational for 362 days.
"We are very close to the structural capacity limit of our infrastructure and in the last three years we have recorded progressive and continuous growth of work," explains chief executive Alessandro Terrile. The almost complete saturation of capacity has led the company to long-term planning: "With the bookings we already have now, we can say that we are already full for the whole of 2025."
The president of the Ente Bacini, Daniela Boccadoro Ameri, has emphasised how the success is the fruit of "a sharing of intentions with the ship repair companies who are our clients, with the workers and the trade union organisations." A collaborative approach that has allowed them to overcome past difficulties and build solid foundations for the future. The consolidation of results finds confirmation in the renewal of the concession until December 2029 by the Port System Authority, which guarantees the stability necessary to plan future investments and developments. During 2024, the authority worked intensively on the design of important modernisation interventions to existing structures.
The Port System Authority has allocated 30 million euros for the restructuring of docks 4 and 5 and the realisation of a new quay, with the Ente Bacini taking charge of the design and preliminary investigations for these strategic interventions. During the course of 2024, the project for the realisation of a new yard was also launched, creating precious space for work where previously there was a small arm of sea between docks 4 and 5.
2024 was also a year of important investments in environmental sustainability, with the Ente Bacini allocating almost 400,000 euros to interventions to mitigate environmental impact. The principal investment concerned the installation of a new Matec filter press model Ignis 800x800 with 40 Hpt plates for the treatment of sludge derived from wastewater purification. This technology creates sludge cakes with minimal residual humidity, improving the treatment process of industrial effluent. The investment forms part of a multi-year programme that since 2021 has seen the authority commit a total of approximately 14 million euros to reduce the impact of industrial activities and improve environmental quality.
The company maintains rigid environmental control measures, with the prohibition of sandblasting and night work in docks 1, 2 and 3, which are closer to the city, to contain emissions and acoustic impact. The monitoring system based on anemometers positioned in the working areas continues to prevent the dispersion of polluting substances during painting operations, whilst since 2022 cold ironing (electrical power supply from shore with ship engines switched off) has become a contractual obligation for all moored vessels, allowing the elimination of CO2 emissions through connection to the electrical cabin built in 2018.
The company's growth path will be subjected to evaluation by the shareholders' assembly, convened for 26 June. At that meeting, in addition to approval of the balance sheet, they will proceed with the renewal of corporate governance, a crucial moment to define future strategies and consolidate the leading position in the ship repair sector.
