shipyards
MONDOMARINE
SHIPBUILDERS FOR A HUNDRED YEARS
by Roberto Franzoni
128
Experience and know how is what Mondomarine has been expressing in the course of the
past dozens of years and great energy and motivation shown during the recent period
following Alessandro Falciai’s entry which was crowned with the acquisition of Cantieri di
Pisa in an area which has been hosting shipbuilding yards for a century. In fact Mondomarine
was founded in the 21st century on the premises of the former Cantieri Campanella whose
beginnings go back to the beginning of the 20th century in a city (Savona) which shared
with Genoa the knowhow and culture necessary in the art of building and refitting naval
vessels. Campanella Cantieri Navali Spa was the brand which back in 1915 first began to
repair, and transform ships. The yard began to operate in the course of WWl, when it was
known as Officine Riparazioni Industriali e Navali Savona (O.R.I.E.N.S.) and was owned by
two brothers Settimo e Giacomo Ascenso. O.R.I.E.N.S. has since represented one of the
most important industries in the area. The plant employed about 50 highly specialised people, mechanics, carpenters, welders right from the beginning.
In 1941 it changed name to Officine Costruzioni Riparazione Navali Campanella-Ascenso
Spa. with Tito Campanella as company President who was already the owner of a similar
firm with premises in the port of Genoa which was taken over by his son Piero (engineer).
Labelled with a new brand name the company begins to supply the Marina Militare Italiana,
the Italian Navy with repair work to landing craft, troop transport ships, as well as the conversion and upgrading of war ships.
At the end of the war Cantieri Campanella diversify and start to rebuild and repair buildings
and damaged gear but most of all they begin to renew the Italian merchant navy’s fleet with
a series of tankers with which to supply water to Sardinia. In view of the sizes involved Campanella yards need to find larger premises. The port authorities in Savona grant permission
for the yard to take up part of the North-West area of the port which is duly set up with
hangars and slips.
Come 1950 the yard builds and launches a bow section weighing 1,200 tons to be welded
onto a ship’s section which had been damaged during the war in Genoa. The new ship, now
longer than before after “surgery” is christened “Paraggi”.
The following decade up to 1960 was a very busy time for Cantieri Campanella as they were
very much involved in repair work to damaged ships, and in the conversions from steam to
diesel engines.
In 1960 the Campanella-Ascenso yard builds its first tug. It was called “Giuseppe Ghezzani”
after the Ghezzani ship owners from Leghorn for whom it was built.
The next three years to 1963 were spent building large fishing vessels, platforms, floating
cranes and also a yacht named “Oceanico”. In the considerable list of the works carried out
by Cantieri Campanella the more important ones are the ones dedicated to a vast range of
repair works. By the mid sixties more than 300 vessels a year were repaired with peaks of as
many as ten at a time along the quayside or with men busy at work on board while sailing.
In 1963 following the retirement of Settimo Ascenso the yard takes on the following name:
“Campanella Cantieri Navali Spa”.
In 1966 Cantieri Campanella sign a contract for three tugs to be powered with 1,880 HP
engines for the Rimorchiatori Riuniti di Genova company which marks the first construction
of Italian tugs to be powered by German Voith engines. In the course of that same period
Campanella yards acquire a further order for three MTM class landing craft for the Italian
Navy. Two years later at the end of 1968 they sign an agreement to build a new ocean going
search and rescue tug powered with 3,500 HP, with Armasarda di Cagliari (a branch of Rimorchiatori Riuniti di Genova).
Following the excellent results obtained with tug “Ciclone” Armasarda decides to build two
new ocean going search and rescue tugs with 3,000 HP to assist large tankers in oceans and
Mediterranean Sea as well as smaller vessels.
Campanella yards expand to the North East side of the Savona port as part of their expansion programme at the beginning of 1971 where there are already two slips and two hangars
with access to Lungomare Matteotti.The new area of 15,000 square metres is built up to host
new hangars for carpentry and mechanical repairs as well as new slips.
Meanwhile Cantieri Campanella acquire a new order for another tug this time from Tripcovich a ship owner from Trieste. Another to be fitted with a German Voith engine of 1680 HP
Opening page,
left: superyacht Okko.
Below left:
Mr. Campanella
with his staff
in the seventies.
below right:
the liner
Maria Cristina (1941)
129
shipyards
Below: fishing vessel
Spes Prima in 1959
and tug Panama about to
be launched in 1969.
Right: large photo
of superyacht Manifiq
130
Mondomarine
shipbuilders for a hundred years
which is similar to the ones built in 1967-68.
At the end of the seventies Campanella yards are still involved with building ships. The first
series of three standardised model tugs are destined to Carmelo Noli a ship owner from
Savona operating from the same port. The first tug of three was started on in 1976.
Between one tug and another there’s the transformation of a Scandinavian log ship into a
container ship for Tarros shipowner from La Spezia. The converted vessel is renamed “Vento
di Ponente” and sails out on its maiden voyage to North Africa in the Spring of 1976.
“Which kind of new construction is this?” asks management. The answer come quickly: “specialised ships” in other words tugs, ocean going passenger ships, fire fighting, pollution fighting
vessels, as well as other ships pertaining to sophisticated categories, where technicians and
other qualified foremen are free to express their well known quality and Italian style.
In 1980 Cantieri Campanella celebrate the building of an A class standard tug, the smallest,
for Rimorchiatori Riuniti di Genova. It is number 86 and goes by the name of “Norvegia” the
1,300 HP engine is driven by a variable pitch propeller with Kort steering.
Still in 1980 a new sliding platform on rollers carrying up to 1,500 tons is built in house to
recover and launch ships up to 75 metres long with a beam of up to 15 metres, on the East
side because of growing demand for an adequate basin in which to convert and repair vessels
which Savona port was lacking. The beginning of the 1980’s saw the yard build ever more
demanding vessels also due to the sizes requested in comparison to the spaces available. The
yards acquire a contract to build three 80 metre tuna fisheries for a Mexican group and a
chemicals transporting ship with stainless tanks for Beta Shipping lines from Savona.
The yards’ core business though since the end of the seventies has become yacht construction flanked later by an expanding market requiring more refits and repairs to large yachts.
A mile stone in this long story initialled by Cantiere Campanella is the famous Mohamedia
motor yacht specially built for Adnan Khasshogi Arab magnate which was awarded a prize
for quality and innovativeness for the project signed by Franco Anselmi Boretti by Lloyd’s
Register in 1975.
Some of the powerful solutions and innovations to the layout still astonish today, like the turret with a host of antennas, which is almost invisible behind clear cut lines and conveys great
strength.
Another mile stone is the elegant 48 metre Shake’n Bake motor yacht (former Mary Jean)
another Italian design by Giorgetti & Magrini in 1981. Just like Mohamedia this yacht too is
still cruising and its lines have sailed the seas unscathed and have endured three decades. This
yacht is well proportioned, reliable and its lines are not overly ostentatious.
Cantiere Campanella was owned by Giampiero Moretti and The Stroppiana family crossing
paths with the nearby Cantiere Baglietto di Varazze yard.
The ups and downs of the latter called for the Savona yard’s contribution in completing
existing yachts or building new ones. Campanella built all of the metal joinery for 46
metre Al Fahedi by Baglietto designed by Studio Zuccon in 1986 which was for a considerable length of time fleet flagship. Several significant photographs show the yacht
externally finished and painted awaiting to be launched at the Campanella yard.
A further three yachts from the Varazze based yard were completed in the early part of
the nineties in Savona and Genoa Sestri where some of the yard’s activities were taken
to. We’re talking about one thirty metre and two aluminium built planing 35 metre motor
yachts. Up to that point in time, after the first large steel yachts, subsequent models (the
first bearing Mondomarine brand) were built in composites and initialled by Also Cichero.
A series from 20 to 35 metres represented the yard’s big ones for a relatively long time
featuring the much appreciated Italian design with clear cut lines.
When building aluminium yachts for Baglietto came to an end, Cantiere Mondomarine
began to build aluminium yachts in its own right which has today become this renowned
yard’s speciality.
131
shipyards
Mondomarine
shipbuilders for a hundred years
Tailor made Italian Manufactory PARQUET and BOISERIE
The successful outcome was marked by the fortunate 40 and 50 metre series which represent the core of the more famous models from the brand and are a reference point to the
yachts to come. There’s also a series of displacing steel yachts flanked by the semi-displacing
aluminium fleet.The fifty metre Tribù is the most representative model of the steel range.This
iconic model is an Explorer yacht which has circumnavigated the globe several times over and
has been to the North Pole as well. In this case as well the project work is all Italian from Luca
Dini, with interiors by Piero Lissoni. This was the first yacht to obtain Rina Green Star certification thanks to having been built in compliance to the then all new environmental norms.
It’s worth noting how the episode of the 50 metre series which involved Mondomarine is
linked to the arrival of yet another yard, in this instance Rossinavi with an unfinished yacht:
Genesis a 46 metre design by Luiz Basto, with naval architecture by Sergio Cutolo who’s
currently among Mondomarine yard’s most appreciated naval architects. The superstructure
of this yacht was completed in Savona. From whence the elegant 50 metre aluminium series
drawn up by Giorgio Vafiadis. Another remarkable repair was carried by Mondomarine on
a yacht from Turkish yard Proteskan which was berthed in Montecarlo for the Formula 1
Grand Prix and because the stern end hit the quay and was seriously damaged. On the Monday following the race the yacht which happened to have been designed by Alberto Mercati
another renowned Italian designer who came over to the yard where repair work was carried
out in the water by weighing the bow end down so the repair job could be carried out. The
outcome was successful. Today Mondomarine, thanks to its long consolidated track record,
solid technical and construction traditions applied to such a wide variety of repair works, and
constructions and backed by solid financial means and technology, plus another production
site in Pisa which allows the firm to diversify production and increase output. Mondomarine
is aiming to build very high quality yachts up to and exceeding 80 metres and to become one
of the top European firms building superyachts.
For further information: Mondomarine; Sea Side Plaza 8; Avenue des Ligures MC – 98000
Monaco; tel. +377 97 772080; fax: +377 97 772085; website: www.mondomarine.mc
e- mail:info@mondomarine.mc
CADORIN GROUP S.r.l.
Tel. +39 0423 920 209 • +39 0423 544 019
commerciale@cadoringroup.it
31054 POSSAGNO (TV) Italy
See you at
23 - 26 SEPTEMBER 2015
Oak
Stand QP9 / Parvis Piscine
Walnut
Above: 80 metre fishing
vessel in 1981 for
the Mexican government.
To the side:
50 metre Explorer Tribù
Teak
132
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Woven Walnut
White GOLD Dust
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