[2] In 1893, an agreement was signed between the Italian State and the Municipality of Palermo providing for a major modernisation plan for the city's port, including the construction of a careening dock for the maintenance and repair of large vessels.

In September 1896, Ignazio Florio Jr., scion of the wealthy Florio family, and shipowner and owner of the Navigazione Generale Italiana company, which provided regular services within Sicily and to the ports of Naples and Marseille, presented his own project for the construction of a shipyard with a large careening basin.

[3] Thanks to Florio's excellent relations with the head of government, Antonio di Rudinì, the agreement for the construction of the careening dock and the shipyard was signed on 16 March 1897.

The Florio family, which had been forced to go into debt with the Banca Commerciale Italiana, was obliged to sell its shares in the shipyard in 1905 to Attilio Odero (it), Florio's partner in Navigazione Generale Italiana, but also owner of Cantiere navale di Sestri Ponente and Cantiere della Foce in Genoa, and a partner in Terni steelworks.

In 1925 CNR was renamed as Cantieri Navali del Tirreno after it gained control of the Cantiere navale di Riva Trigoso.