At the end of a two-day meeting that the leaders of Assarmatori had in Brussels with authoritative exponents of the institutions of the European Union, today the president of the Italian shipowning association, Stefano Messina has announced whereas the European Commission is ready to assess the request advanced by the association to review the metric of the CII (Carbon Intensity Indicator) of the International Maritime Organization, the index that measures the efficiency of a ship with regard to emissions of greenhouse gases and which is expressed in grams of CO2 emitted in relation to load capacity (tons of capacity gross) and the distance travelled (nautical miles), a measure that assigns ships an annual CII rating, applies to all ships of at least 5 thousand tons of gross tonnage and is in force since the beginning of this year ( of 18 November 2020 and 18 June 2021).

Messina explained that Assarmatori represented the representatives of the EU institutions 'the specificities of Italy in this sector, recalling that Italian shipowners They are the world leader for the ro-ro/pax fleet, connecting the largest island community in Europe, and first in the Mediterranean in the services of the Motorways of the Sea. Also for this reason - he specified recalling that the association has several times highlighted the issue - we are concerned by the new IMO CII, of which it is urgent to change the metric. As it is thought today - specified the president of Assarmatori - leads to effects opposite to those of environmental protection, penalizing the Italian ship that every day takes away Thousands of trucks from the road: in this sense, as mentioned, they are There have also been encouraging signals from the Commission. Even though concerns the Fit for 55 package, and in particular the entry of the shipping in the ETS system, we have obtained important measures to safeguard principles guaranteed by the Constitution such as the territorial continuity, protecting connections with the smaller islands, and the same must be done for Sardinia and Sicily at the In order to avoid a sharp increase in transport costs. This is also important in view of the final trilogue negotiation on the proposal for a FuelEU Maritime regulation to be held tomorrow right here in Brussels."

"It is necessary now - the president of Assarmatori has noted - ETS revenues from maritime services in Italian ports are assigned to the maritime transport of the country to finance research and development of new technologies and in order to ensure availability on the market, at costs accessible, new alternative fuels in the coming years and related infrastructure investments. Again, we reiterated how these fuels are unfortunately far from being a viable reality, both because they are not yet available on a large scale and because of the lack of an adequate network of distribution and storage in ports. Shipowners are ready to use them, as soon as these options are effective."

The series of meetings held in Brussels by the summits of Assarmatori began yesterday with a visit to the Service European External Action (EEAS) and with the meeting with Giovanni Cremonini, head of Maritime Security Sector, in a meeting with the World Shipping Council, the international association of containerized shipping companies. This was followed by a meeting at the Permanent Representation of Italy to the Union European with Italian diplomats and officials who oversee Brussels tables and strategic negotiations for shipping. In the evening it is the dinner "Assarmatori meets the EU" was organized in the presence of Members of the European Parliament, senior executives of various Directorates-General of the Commission, leading figures European maritime and port cluster plan as the President of ESPO Zeno D'Agostino, leaders of the political, institutional system, Italian military, diplomat and industrialist in Brussels. In this Introductory speeches were given by the President of Assarmatori Messina, by Fotini Ioannidou, deputy director of Waterborne Transport and Head of the Maritime Safety Unit (European Commission, DG MOVE), and Ambassador Stefano Verrecchia, Deputy Permanent Representative of Italy presso the European Union. Today, during the second day, the members of the board of directors of Assarmatori met Walter Goetz, Head of Cabinet of the European Commissioner for Transport, Adina Vălean, and Roxana Lesovici, member of the Cabinet with responsibility for Shipping. Afterwards, they were able to confront several MEPs at a working lunch inside of the European Parliament. To conclude the cycle of meetings, the event "Call for action to implement the EU Mission Restore Our Ocean and Waters: the role of the European shipping", with Kestutis Sadauskas, deputy director general DG MARE, and Elisabetta Balzi, Head of Unit, Healthy Ocean & Seas, DG R&I.