On October 27 in the "Official Journal of the European Union" the European Commission's Implementing Regulation was published that identifies the extra-European container ports operating predominantly transhipment activities, transshipment airports of neighboring containers that, with the aim of not penalizing European transhipment ports as a result of inclusion from the next first January of shipping in the EU ETS for the exchange of greenhouse gas emission allowances in the European Union, the regulation excludes from the definition of "port of stopover". It is the Egyptian port of Port Said East and the Moroccan port of Tanger Med ( of the October 27 2023).

Before and after October 27, previously with the sending of its own contributions in response to the consultation on merit initiated by the European Commission ( of the September 28 2023), then with repeated solicitations to national and European politicians, several European maritime, logistics and port organisations have highlighted that including these only two ports in the scope of the rules european would not have solved the problem of the decrease in competitiveness of EU transhipment ports.

Hence the requests for changes or remedies aimed at European institutions that, so far, from the few declarations coming from Brussels, appear exclusively to be prepared to expand, if necessary and verified, the list of transshipment ports of neighboring containers, which to now include only Tanger Med and Port Said East, rather than-as suggested in its response as part of the consultation by the Port System Authority of the South Tyrrhenian Sea and Ionian that manages the Italian port of Transhipment of Gioia Tauro-extending to Gioia Tauro and others similar European ports to the regime applied to the Moroccan port and to the Egyptian port.

Until now, only general assurances have been reached from Brussels, like that of the European Parliament's vice president, Pina Picierno, who met with a representation of the association of shipowners ' association Assshipowners yesterday, according to which the EU Commission said. has initiated a comparison on the effects on European ports of the implementation of the Directive that includes maritime transport in the EU ETS. In the press, there are a number of politicians who interpret the fleble voice of Brussels in the sense dated by the Picierno or with diametrically opposed meaning. Among the latter appears to be the interpretation given by the "Journal of the South" to the response by a spokesman for the European Commission on the assumption that there may be a waiver in view of the Calabrian port airport, which has led the way. daily "The EU : No derogation for the port of Gioia Tauro," thus interpreting the answer obtained, to say the true generic and for nothing specific, as a "no" to any hypothesis of variation in norms and regulations.

This interpretation of Messina's newspaper is likely to be reflected in the unrest expressed today by Pasquale Legora de Feo, president of UNIPORT, the National Union of Portuali Enterprises which represents the vast majority of Italian port terminals. operating in the container segment, association that last September 15 had sent to the European Commission its contribution to the consultation by proposing to "exclude from the definition of a port of scale" also ports located in Europe at risk of relocation of the transshipment activities, thus enabling to achieve equal treatment with traffics choosing African ports, minimizing the risks of diversion of both traffics with final destination in Europe (extra-EU/EU routes) and intercontinental (extra-EU / extra-EU) trades that currently make scaling in EU transhipment hubs, "and also proposing to" start the process of review of the operation of the ETS Directive on maritime transport in order to prevent elusive behaviour, unproductive of the expected and damaging environmental benefits for portuality and Italian and EU port operators in general. " This in order to safeguard the competitiveness of the Mediterranean ports of the European Union, including the Gioia Tauro stopover whose container terminal is operated by the Medcenter Container Terminal (MCT), a company associated with UNIPORT.

"A disconcerting statement," said Legora de Feo, "which, if it corresponds to the actual EU intensity, would represent a leap back from the sustainable development goals and the inability to grasp the strategic value of the EU." maritime transport and logistics for the development of Europe and even more so than Italy, the Mezzogiorno and a Region, Calabria, which on its largest port (Gioia Tauro) can leverage economic and employment growth. " "A measure that, by shifting the transshipment traffic entirely to ports in North Africa, will also depress the volumes of traffics having Italy and Europe as a final destination, will not bring any benefits," the president said. environmental in the Mediterranean area, but it will have as a result a loss of traffic and occupation. For Gioia Tauro, the only transshipment traffic from extra EU ports transiting at the destination, which is also extra EU, represents over 40% of the containers managed. The ETS measure would also affect other traffic segments by deescalating the propensce to invest in firms, questioning the possibility of amortization of the relevant investments so far made and the balances of the companies themselves, generating impacts on the levels of employment. To date, the Container Terminal of Gioia is the largest employment reality in the Calabria Region : approximately 1,800 direct work units and more than 3,500 in the induced area. Can Italy afford the risk of laying on the lastrand the large part of so many families that in the port activities have the sole source of income? "

"We call on all the political forces represented in Brussels but also the entire world of Italian logistics to activate immediately, including in synergy with the other EU states (Spain, Greece, Portugal)," he said. more than any other risk paying an unreasonable measure because not carefully and carefully meditated in the manner and timing of application and not shared with the extra EU states of the Mediterranean, to be active in order to find the necessary and appropriate measures to ensure the conditions of competitive equilibrium to Italian companies and, in particular, to the government, we highlight how this problem is a priority. of the entire logistics system. The terminalistic undertakings and the operators of our ports-concluded the president of UNIPORT-are not insensitive to environmental protection. But the extreme metereological phenomena that increasingly afflict us as a result of pollution are also an important problem for our businesses, perhaps more so than others as they are operating at the limit between land and sea, but we are also convinced that if we do not address emergencies certainly with urgency but according to the principle of sustainability, that is, the balance between balanced protection of the environment and economic and social development are in danger of doing even greater damage. "

In the meantime, the Commission said the results of its three-day mission in Brussels focused mainly on the joint meeting between the association between the association, the Permanent Representation of Italy to the EU and the European Commission to the European Commission. end to address the issues of maritime transport and national and European portuality, starting with the possible avenues to remedy the criticalities of the ETS Directive. The association specified that its Secretary General Alberto Rossi, together with the head of the headquarters of Assshipowners in Brussels, Dario Bazargan, presented to the European institutions the proposals of the national maritime cluster for safeguard traffics, investments in continental hubs, in line with the letter sent recently by seven Member States of the Union to the Commission's top officials. "The protection of transhipment trades," said Assshipowners, illustrating the themes addressed-but also European Marebonus to avert the back modal shift and the renewal of the fleets with the funds generated by the ETS scheme among the topics discussed.

"We have started with the European Commission, a joint path of frank and constructive confrontation aimed at the analysis of the critiques of the implementation of the ETS and the identification of the most effective solutions to protect the European Union," the European Commission said in a statement. traffic in European ports. We have given maximum readiness to support with concrete data, as we have always done, the work of assessing the impacts of the ETS that the Commission has to carry out under the monitoring and review clauses envisaged by the same directive. "We are pleased the Commission has decided to speed up the expected initial timelines, and within which it is expected," Rossi said in a statement confirming the Commission's intention to assess the introduction of corrective measures. inserts our meeting. "

Referring to the proposal of the European Marebonus, the Secretary General of Assshipowners specified that " always yesterday, in addition, on the occasion of the publication of the proposal for revision of the Combined Transport Directive ( of the November 7 2023, ndr ), we have proposed a coordinated form of incentive at European level for the modal shift, on which the association has been working for years, recalling the adverse impacts of the ETS standards on the Autostrade of the Sea. In this regard, we note that the concerns and proposals of moratorium exhibited by our association have long been received, although unfortunately belatedly, full support also by the European Short Sea Network in a press release from this published during our mission in Brussels. We have finally found the usual attention of our Italian Representation in Brussels and that of the Commission on the Criticities of the Renewal Decree, determined by the stringent criteria dictated by the Italian government. from the EU rules on state aid for the ecological transition, reiterating the need for their own review. "