Updated 4pm UK time to include newly reported casualty numbers.
The Port of Genoa is expected to be closed until at least early afternoon on Wednesday, 8 May after a container ship slammed into the shipping hub's main control tower late on Tuesday evening, destroying the building and killing at least five of the tower's key staff.
Although the fruit export season is now finished in the surrounding region of Liguria and in nearby Piedmont, anticipated disruption to services in and out of Genoa is expected to temporarily halt the movement of any fresh produce imports via the port.
Eurofruit understands port workers have called a day's strike action following the tragedy, a customary course of action when such incidents occur.
According to local reports of the incident, an Italian registered vessel called Jolly Nero crashed into the 50m (160ft) high tower, sending it crashing to the ground as well as into the surrounding water.
As well as the reported loss of life, officials fear the death toll could reach seven, with several other employees who were working at the tower at the time of the crash still unaccounted for Wednesday evening. It was reported that more people than usual were in the building at the time because a new shift was about to begin.
Genoese newspaper Il Secolo XIX reported that the 40,500-tonne ship had been on its way out of the port bound for Naples and further ports of call in the Middle East when its motors are thought to have jammed, supposedly rendering it impossible to control.
'Based on the few details to have emerged so far, it was an incomprehensible manoeuvre which could only be explained by a mechanical failure,' the newspaper said.
However, head of the Genoa Port Authority Luigi Merlo told local television avoided leaping to conclusions: “It is a terrible tragedy. At the moment there is no explanation for the accident.'
Fruit carrier
Formerly sailing as the Maersk Alaska, since June 2006 the Jolly Nero has been part of a fleet of ro-ro and container vessels operated by Sicilian group Ignazio Messina.
Messina Line services are focused on the Mediterranean region, sailing between southern Europe, North Africa and the Middle East but, according to insiders, carrying only a small volume of reefer shipments.
According to Luca Antonietti of leading Genoa-based exporter Novafruit, the incident comes at a time when the volume of fruit consignments leaving the port is indeed negligible.
'There were certainly refrigerated containers on board, but no fruit because it's not export season,' he told Eurofruit. 'We very often use this line and this ship. With Messina Line we export kiwifruit and apples to the Middle East.'
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