In order to find out more about the port of Livorno as well as about the city itself, growing in recent years in terms of industry, tourism, and housing, in connection with the 5th annual Porto Aperto (“Open Port”), the prominent Italian builder Benetti and the Port Authority, along with the Municipality of Livorno, provided citizens and visitors of Livorno with a unique opportunity to discover the Porta a Mare area and enter into the centre of the Benetti shipyards and its modern production facilities.
Benetti Shipyard in Livorno, Italy
The event was part of the initiative for the 2012 Naval Academy and City of Livorno Trophy (TAN) festival.
On Saturday, April 28, the modern Livorno headquarters of Benetti shipyards, which opened in 2003, together with the Lusben division of the Azimut Benetti Group, which specialises in refit and repair work, paid honour to the city of Livorno by opening the doors to their production facilities to all boating enthusiasts, fans, and visitors, who, as was the case last year (as part of the festival on June 2 celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Italian unification), had the opportunity to visit the production area – measuring over 160 thousand square metres – owned by Benetti, which for more than 130 years has been the worldwide ambassador of Italy’s style and boating excellence.
After the official welcome attended by a large number of authorities and the local press, visitors could enter the facilities where modern sea giants are manufactured, fascinating yachts in steel and aluminium from 45 to 90 metres produced in accordance with their owners’ specific requests.
Currently, 12 yachts are under construction at the shipyard – including the first blocks of the next 90 metres, the future jewel among the largest ever built by Benetti – together with other units stationed at the dock for refit work by Lusben.
Visitors at Benetti Shipyard
By following the stages of an organised route, the production area could be visited in the company of a guide.
Starting with a fascinating look at the Benetti yachts on exhibit in the Benetti Gallery – the most complete collection of scale models – whether Benetti or Orlando – from the mid-19th century up to today.
The tour continued with a visit to the Morosini building slip, the famous dock built in 1911, and then on to the assembly and fit-out sheds, where today craftsmen build modern yachts: welding, sanding, priming, puttying, systems installation, furnishings, painting, then on to the new building area of the new 90 meters where has been explained the main steps of the construction of the largest yacht ever built by Benetti, while on a screen were running the most relevant images of the story related to the shipyard.
Next step, to the new RECYTA equipment, the robotic system that has been developed by Benetti in collaboration with Italy’s most important Universities and Research Centres in order to automate the puttying and finishing stages in the process of preparing the steel and aluminium surfaces of large yachts.
The 5th annual Porto Aperto (“Open Port”) in Livorno
A 50-tonne moveable platform with an auto-levelling air-track glider, which allows work to be done in a programmed order: 3-D surface scanning, sanding, and puttying with considerable saving of time and a high level of quality, not to mention improved hygienic and sanitary conditions during the milling stages, with a drastic reduction of dust.
Leaving the manufacturing departments, the tour continued with a visit to the outside yards and the new Morosini building slip, where the equipment and systems for launching and hauling yachts are fitted, one of the most modern facilities in the Mediterranean dedicated to service and repair, equipped with a 300-tonne travel lift and a 2,400-tonne ship lift.
It was a unique event that was highly anticipated by Azimut–Benetti in order to emphasise, once again, the virtuous nature of the link that binds Benetti and the city.
