Tirrenia is a privately-owned Italian shipping company contracted by the Ministry of Transportation to ship items between Italy's mainland and its major islands. It operates a fleet of 23 vessels.
History
Tirrenia Società Anonimadi Navigazione was founded in 1936, resulting from the nationalization of many private-owned Italian lines. The company gathered a fleet of 55 ships. When World War II broke out, the number of lines were reduced. By 1942, 50 ships were sunk following the armed conflicts in the Mediterranean sea. After World War II, the few ships surviving the conflict were used to connect Italian islands, mainly Sardinia, to the mainland. The company became public and its name was changed to Tirrenia di Navigazione S.p.A. In 1965, the company launched the production of fully-fledged ferries, the Poet Class. In the 1970s, ships were gradually replaced by ferries and the company developed its freight activities. In 1975, Tirrenia bought the Malta Express ferry. Since the end of the 1980s, the company has been upgrading its older units with faster ones capable of reaching 35–40 knots. However, most of these were unpractical or too expensive to operate and are now scrapped. The Italian Government, after having subsidiarized the company some years, privatised Tirrenia in 2012. On 23 December 2009, Tirrenia was put onthe market. Sixteen companies join the bidding, including SNAV, Grandi Navi Veloci, Grimaldi Lines, Moby Lines, Ustica Lines, Corsica Ferries and Mediterranea Holding. The latter ends up alone when al the other bidders quit. On 28 July 2010, Mediterranea Holding won the bidding for Tirrenia and Siremar. On 4 August, Fintecna announces that the sale will not happen, since Mediterranea Holding did not show up for signing. On 12 August, the company officially entered receivership, as requested by commissioner Giancarlo D'Andrea. An agreement has been made for Tirrenia to be taken over by Compagnia Italiana di Navigazione in 2012. However, in May the competition authority opened an investigation into whether a dominant position in routes to Sardinia would be created. In 2014, the company moved from its historic headquarters of Rione Sirignano to Calata Porta di Massa, Interno Porto. In 2015, Tirrenia was entirely acquired by Vincenzo Onorato and became part of the Onorato Armatori group. Pietro Manunta was named President and Massimo Mura Managing Director. Vincenzo Onorato also owns the other ferry company of Naples, Moby. In 2019, Tirrenia raised its prices, leading to reactions from the weakened local competition.
Tirrenia group
Tirrenia Group included until 2010 the following company:
