The Golar Tundra regasification ship has arrived in Piombino. Once the protests have been averted, entry into the armored port in the night
PIOMBINO (LIVORNO). The installation at the port of Piombino of the Golar Tundra regasifier ship, bought by Snam for 350 million dollars, took shape on Sunday with the first sightings of the almost 300-metre-long silhouette advancing offshore and then becoming a ‘done thing’ in the night, with docking operations completed when all commercial traffic is stopped. However, it will be operational in its functions – it can regasify 5 billion cubic meters of liquefied gas a year – not immediately, but from May, when the connections with the methane pipeline junction of the national network in the hinterland will be completed.
The arrival of the special ship after 26 days of navigation from Singapore, via Suez, with a skirting of western Sicily (no Strait of Messina) and going up the Tyrrhenian towards Tuscany, seems to extinguish even the last protest.
A flash mobs done in point of pride Sunday morning with about fifty citizens who marched from the railway station, which is in the town, to the nearby maritime station. “Piombino says no”, was written on the signs. With this, there would be about seventy protests promoted by the inhabitants for almost a year now. This time there have also been criticisms for the port authority as well as for the government and the Region. All civil demonstrations.
However, the port has been armored to avoid surprises, more closely watched than usual also by the forces of order, due to fears of excesses and unrest. In addition, the police and carabinieri for the same reason manned the access roads to Piombino and the port all day in a visible and discreet way. Instead, for very different safety reasons, the Golar Tundra sailed in the Mediterranean escorted by the Navy.
He will remain in the port of Piombino for three years according to the agreements, and if the Tar does not change the cards on the table at the hearing on July 5th. Together with the other regasification vessel Bw Singapore, which will be located in Ravenna, the Golar Tundra will contribute to 13% of the national energy needs. In terms of controversy, the arrival of the ship in Piombino remains controversial. No one seems to have changed their position: least of all the mayor Francesco Ferrari, who was against hosting a building from the outset which, with his fellow citizens, he judges to be top-down and unsympathetic to the expectations of the city, steel mills and related land reclamation in the first place. On the other hand, the president of the Region and government commissioner for the works, Eugenio Giani, enthusiastically came to the port of Piombino on Sunday evening and will hold a press conference with Snam managers in the next few hours.
