The city of Naples has stopped allowing superyachts to dock into its ports, leaving billionaires ‘stranded’ in their vessels and complaining about the new measures.
Starting this summer, yachts longer than 75 metres are no longer allowed in Naples’ ports due to safety reasons. While there are no more details from city authorities regarding the reasons behind the ban, billionaires and luxury port administrators have been vocal about the decision.
I am getting many letters from magnates saying they’re thoroughly disappointed that they can’t dock in Naples anymore.
Port employee
“Our boat measures 85 metres and I have seen larger ones moored there without any problem. Why is this no longer possible? Big yachts bring money, they bring jobs, and it’s really regrettable that they can no longer stop in Naples”, a source working at the port cited a letter they received from a company that charters yachts from a Turkish billionaire, reported by the Guardian.
Massimo Luise, an administrator for the Magellan pier that hosts luxury yachts said that while he respects the rule, the city did not tale into consideration the considerable economic repercussions. “It’s a shame for Naples, a special city full of culture and tradition which can no longer welcome guests of the calibre of Leonardo DiCaprio, Johnny Depp, Jeff Bezos and Jennifer Lopez, who have come here over the years”, he told Italy24.
Business unions are also against the ban, raising concern over its consequences. Costanzo Jannotti Pecci, president of the Naples branch of Unione Industriali, told Il Mattin that the regulations was merely prompted by a feeling that superyachts should not be allowed in the city, but authorities are unaware of the “pleasure that a tycoon might get from our city”. He stressed that it is the billionaires that increase the popularity of cities like Naples and make them famous.
According to Italian news organisation Corriere della Sera, one of the first people to feel the consequences of the ban was Bernard Arnaud, CEO of luxury goods company LVMH and co-founder of Louis Vuitton. The second richest man in the world, with a net worth of €140 billion, was left stranded in the Tyrrhenian Sea aboard his 101-metre-long Symphony yacht, a 6-deck ship with an outdoor cinema and glass bottom swimming pool.
