Judicial earthquake in Liguria. The President of the Region, John Toti, Was arrested at dawn by the soldiers of the Guardia di Finanza of Genoa. He was placed at the arrest upon order of the judge with theaccusation of corruption as part of an investigation conducted by the Genoa Prosecutor's Office, led by Nicola Piacente, on the 2020 Ligurian regional elections.
As part of the operation, they were applied precautionary measures for 9 other people, among which Matthew Cozzani, head of cabinet and close collaborator of Toti, the entrepreneur Aldo Spinelli active in the logistics and real estate sector, Paul Emilio Signorini, CEO of Iren and former president of the Port System Authority of the Western Ligurian Sea and Francesco Moncada, director of Esselunga SpA The accusation against Cozzani is particularly serious, being aggravated by the alleged complicity in thefacilitate the activity of Cosa Nostra, pursuant to article 416-bis.1 of the penal code.
The accusations against Toti: 74 thousand euros in exchange for favours
The president of the Liguria Region is accused of having accepted promises of funding da Aldo Spinelli and Roberto Spinelli, For a total of 74.100 euros, in exchange for various favors, including the transformation of the Punta Dell'Olmo beach from public to private, concessions in construction practices relating to properties of interest to the Spinellis, acceleration and approval of port concessions, and favors regarding port spaces and state-owned areas .
In particular the accusations concern encouraging the transformation of the beach of Punta Dell'Olmo from public to private, facilitating construction practices for the Punta Dell'Olmo real estate complex of interest to Aldo and Roberto Spinelli, accelerating the renewal of the concession of the Terminal Rinfuse to Terminal Rinfuse Genova Srl, assign former Carbonile ITAR and Carbonile Levante port spaces to Aldo Spinelli, grant a state-owned area for use to Società Autostrade to Spinelli and facilitate the entrepreneur in the practice of "tombing" Calata Concenter.
Governor Toti and his chief of staff, Matteo Cozzani, are also accused of having accepted the promise of illicit financing by Francesco Moncada, board member of Esselunga. This financing would have consisted of the hidden payment for advertising passages on the Terrazza Colombo during the 2022 municipal election campaign, in exchange for the commitment to unblock two Esselunga cases pending in the Region regarding the opening of two sales points in Sestri Ponente and Savona.
Toti's Chief of Staff "facilitated the Mafia"
The accusations against Matteo Cozzani, President Toti's chief of staff, are serious. He is accused of electoral corruption, with the aggravating circumstance of having facilitated the activity of Cosa Nostra, in particular the Cammarata clan of the Riesi district with projection in Genoa. include the promise of jobs and better apartments to direct the votes of the Riesi community in Genoa towards the "Let's change with Toti President" list and towards the suspect Stefano Anzalone and other candidates from the same list. Cozzani is also accused of coordinating the electoral campaign of the list, with the aggravating circumstances provided for by article 416-bis.1. Toti's right-hand man is under house arrest.
The measures against the other suspects
Francesco Moncada he is under investigation for corruption and subjected to a temporary ban from carrying out his entrepreneurial and professional activity. The same measure was applied to Roberto Spinelli, son of Aldo Spinelli, ea Mauro Vianello, entrepreneur active in the Port of Genoa, accused of corruption against Paolo Emilio Signorini, former president of the port. Everyone is under house arrest.
Paolo Emilio Signorini, former president of the Port System Authority of the Western Ligurian Sea and current CEO of Iren, ended up in prison. According to the investigation, the entrepreneur gave money to Toti in exchange for favors, such as the concession of areas of the Rinfuse terminal to Spinelli.
Spinelli and Vianello are accused of having provided various utilities to Signorini. These include benefits for expediting port and building permit procedures, luxury stays in Monte Carlo, valuable gifts such as a gold bracelet and an Apple watch, as well as a paid future assignment. Spinelli also allegedly gave cash to Signorini and offered benefits not only to him but also to his family, such as a stay in an apartment owned by Vianello.
Iren Genoa minus 50 billion, could have worked on the synthetic methane project to fuel NG-powered ships. It could have tripled revenues but Signorini said no to synthetic methane to follow the advance of nuclear propulsion, while the Germans at Hapag-Lloyd are working on the project synthetic methane to fuel their LNG-powered ships. In short, Signorini like Iren have lost 50 billion in revenues.
Germany's Hapag-Lloyd is working on a synthetic methane project in a bid to further reduce emissions from its fleet of LNG-powered container ships. Hapag-Lloyd operates the 15.000 TEU converted container ship, the Brussels Express, the first container ship ultra-large modernized with LNG in the world.
Last year, the company also took delivery of the first of 12 LNG-powered ultra-large container ships from South Korea's Hanwha Ocean, formerly known as DSME. Hapag-Lloyd has ordered six container ships for the first time to dual-fuel LNG of 23.500 TEUs from Hanwha Ocean in 2020, and added six more sister ships in 2021. The orders have a total price tag of around $2 billion. In its 2023 sustainability report released this week, the company said it having placed three of its 12 new dual-fuel vessels into service.
Another nine new dual-fuel builds using LNG are expected to come online by 2025. Hapag-Lloyd said the company's LNG bunker consumption totaled 22.769 tonnes in 2023. In 2022, bunker consumption of the company's LNG totaled 4.582 tonnes. In September last year, LNG giant Shell began supplying LNG to Hapag-Lloyd's giant LNG-powered container ships in the Dutch port of Rotterdam under an agreement signed at early 2023. Synthetic methane supply expected in 2025-2026
Hapag-Lloyd says these fuel-efficient 23.600 TEU ships can run on LNG and future alternative fuels, thus helping the company on its journey to a zero-emissions fleet by 2045. “Although we view fossil LNG primarily as a bridge fuel, propulsion technology using liquefied gas is feasible for the future as LNG-powered ships can also be operated with biological or synthetic methane as a medium-term alternative,” he said. They therefore have the potential to operate with “ significantly reduced emissions.”“We are currently following relevant developments closely. In this context, Hapag-Lloyd is already working with potential producers of bio- and synthetic methane,” the company said. Hapag-Lloyd said that an initial project for synthetic methane, produced from carbon dioxide (CO2) and green hydrogen, is currently under development. The shipping company said it expects to be able to load the first quantities starting from 2026. “When exactly it will be possible to use synthetic methane on our dual-fuel ships is not yet clear at the moment,” he said. the company said. One advantage of synthetic methane is that the loss of methane during production is “much lower” than fossil LNG production. Hapag-Lloyd said it can also be monitored more effectively. Biomethane. For l n the current year, 2024, Hapag-Lloyd has planned a biomethane bunkering pilot program. “To further promote the use of biomethane, we are part of a consortium for a green and digital corridor between Rotterdam and Singapore,” he said The consortium aims to reduce CO2 emissions on this major trade route by 20% to 30% by 2030. Hapag-Lloyd is part of the biomethane journey and is working on a pilot bunkering program in Singapore in 2024.” also involved in the expansion of digitalization for the planning and management of ships and their cargo,” he said.