Responding with yesterday's circular to the reports both by of the customer and by the hauliers received by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport on a series of critical issues on the loading and unloading times of the goods, as regulated by the legislative decree of 21 May (Article 4) aimed at ensuring the continuity of the Road transport, the Ministry recalled that the rule indicates strictly in 90 minutes the connected deductible period waiting for the purposes of both loading and unloading goods (paragraph 1), which is set at 100 euros the compensation due to the vector for each hour or fraction of an hour of delay relative to the exceeding the aforementioned exemption period (paragraph 2), which The compensation of 100 euros is also due, without further deductible periods, if the indicated times are exceeded contractually for the material execution of the loading or unloading (paragraph 3) and that also in this case the compensation is due to the carrier for each hour or fraction of an hour of delay.

With the circular, the MIT specifies that in the deductible referred to in paragraph 1 does not include the times for loading and discharge, that there are no related duty-free periods compensation for exceeding loading and unloading times and that the compensation is due in full (100 euros) also for exceeding the duty-free period (paragraph 2) or loading or discharge (paragraph 3) less than one hour. The rule, moreover - specifies the Ministry - clarifies that compensation is not due if the delay is attributable to the carrier.

In addition, noting that the loading and unloading of goods involve many players in the logistics chain (road carrier, freight forwarder, shipping agent, terminal operator, etc.), which these Operations can be carried out in terminals with very different from each other (ports, freight terminals, logistics platforms, etc.), that the law provides that "the client and the charger are held jointly and severally to correspond to the carrier" the indemnity "without prejudice to the right of recourse between the co-obligated to the actual responsible" and that There is a wide variety of transport contracts (in the form of written and unwritten) and the contracting parties, the Dicastery highlights the need to define with the greatest possible accuracy possible and in advance, the place, the methods vehicle access time, the time of execution and the times of execution of the operations themselves, as well as the methods of attestation of the aforementioned agreements. Among other things - recalls the MIT - please note that the carrier can prove the timetable arrival with digital tools; It is therefore essential that the exact time and place of loading are identified, or as well as the methods of access of vehicles to the loading and unloading points. It is also recommended - he continues the circular - to provide precise indications about the number of responsible for loading or unloading, in consideration of what provided for the payment of compensation and the right of recourse, as well as to explain what is meant by "any force majeure", also in consideration that the rule recalls the responsibilities of the carrier, the the shipper, the shipper and the owner of the goods in the event of of violation of laws and regulations protection of road traffic safety and safety (art. 7 of Legislative Decree 286/2005).

Commenting on the clarifications provided by the Ministry, the president of the Italian Association of Port Terminal Operators (Assiterminal), Tomaso Cognolato, noted that the ministry's note "clarifies Unequivocally that the 90-minute allowance only applies waiting times and do not include the material time taken to load or unload the goods, as required and also indicated by Assiterminal during the discussions with the Ministry". The association complained that "in recent months, on the subject, some acronyms representing the world of road transport had provided different indications to their members, creating confusion and potential disputes, while a large part of the logistics cluster is was set as a goal to focus on efficiency of the supply chain and of the customer/carrier relationship, trying not to fueling contrasts".

'The valuation of the transport contract as a referred to by Legislative Decree 286/2005, from which the operator terminal or port company is excluded - observed the director of Assiterminal, Alessandro Ferrari - is a further element of clarity; could be useful - he highlighted - that the Conference of Presidents of the Authorities Port System could evaluate a sort of agreement national programme that tends to improve, also through a uniform digitization of PCS, the efficiency of import-export that pass through the ports, thus enhancing the digitalisation processes in place and dialogue with operators, first and foremost terminal operators, but also with the Customs. There are still some questions - Ferrari concluded - unresolved issues, such as why the maritime carrier is never referred to in this context as part of the supply chain logistics even when unloading tens of thousands of containers, the risk of the right of recourse as well as the Relationship between port/congestion fee and the regulation of expectations As recalled by the Infrastructure Decree: on some of these issues We have obviously asked for a legal opinion to be provided to our associates'.