The budget for 2026 of the Municipality of Genoa, approved last week by the municipal council, provides for the introduction of a municipal surcharge of three euros on the rights of port embarkation applied to ferries and cruise ships in departure from the port of Genoa from which residents in the municipality and islands, in addition to the armed forces, firefighters and Civil Protection. "The measure - recalled the deputy mayor and Councillor for the Budget, Alessandro Terrile, illustrating to the council municipal the decision to introduce the surcharge - was provided for by a Municipality-government agreement signed in 2022 and never implemented. The previous council - Terrile also recalled - had approved a resolution in February 2025 to introduce it, then dropped and never approved by the city council". The tax - had remembered in February the then deputy mayor regent Pietro Piciocchi - "is established by Bill No. 50 of 2022 for Municipalities that are the seat of the metropolitan city that have signed the agreements with the Presidency of the Council of Ministers for the consolidation of their budgets". "We are among the municipalities - Piciocchi had specified - called to foresee the introduction of the boarding surcharge that is already applied in other cities, for example on airports, such as Venice and Naples, or as far as ports such as Palermo and Naples are concerned, Trieste".

Law no. 234 of 30 December 2021, in Article 1, paragraph 572, contemplates "the institution, with specific resolutions of the Council municipal tax, an increase in the municipal surcharge to personal income tax, in derogation from the limit provided for in Article 1, paragraph 3, of the decree legislative decree no. 360 of 28 September 1998, and a municipal surcharge on port and airport boarding fees per passenger".

In view of the possible adoption of this surcharge the Port System Authority of the Ligurian Sea has expressed serious concern about the hypothesis of application of the boarding tax on passengers departing from port that - the port authority remarked - would be imposed for the first time in Italy. "A measure of a municipal nature - he explained the Port Authority - which, although exceptionally provided for by the legislation on surcharges, has a strong discretionary character and non-uniform applicability on the national territory, with the real risk of generating a direct imbalance in the market cruise industry and in that of ferry connections with the islands, which are essential to ensure continuity transport between the continent and the islands. Genoa, as well as Savona - recalled the authority port - are in fact the home ports respectively of MSC Cruises and Costa Cruises, as well as representing strategic ports of call for numerous other shipping companies that every year choose the ports of our port system as a point of departure or arrival of their routes. In a context already marked by a very fierce competition between companies and between ports of the Mediterranean, the unilateral introduction of a passenger tax equal to three euros, even if it provides exemptions for residents of the Municipality, for residents of the continuously connected islands for law enforcement and Civil Protection - has observed the Port Authority - risks further altering dynamics delicate and consolidated conditions, negatively affecting the attractiveness of the of the port system of the Western Ligurian Sea".

"Competing ports located a few tens of miles away and, across the border, that of Marseille - he also noted the Port System Authority - represent for the alternative companies that are immediately viable, with potential significant consequences on municipal and regional GDP and, in the event of travel to French airports, including on the national one. From a On the other hand, in fact, the transfer of takeovers would affect on the entire logistics, tourism and employment chain; on the other hand, it would risk thwarting the huge efforts made by the Port Authority, which invested a total of 200 million euros to substantially reduce the environmental impacts of activities port on the city. This through the implementation of of the cold ironing systems currently in operation, the promotion of the adoption of new green fuels by shipping companies - from bio-LNG to low-energy fuels emissions such as hydrogen and ammonia – and the launch of advanced projects monitoring of air pollutants, based on control units, Certified sensors and analysis systems, essential for measuring concretely the environmental impact of port activities".

"The technical feasibility of a tax linked to the passengers, in that case airports - the body then recalled that manages the ports of Genoa and Savona-Vado - has already seen a significant precedent with the defeat of the Municipality of Venice before the Council of State, precisely because of the critical issues related to the identification of the applicable criteria according to the Regulations. It is therefore clear that the introduction of Such a fee involves operational complexities for operators and for the entire system. The hypothesis launched by the Municipality of Genoa risks introducing an element that, if not adequately and sufficiently weighted, could alter in the balance of the passenger market, already characterized by a very strong competition between companies and between harbours. Any measure that affects the operating costs of the is not appropriate to be adopted unilaterally without a preventive comparison with the entire maritime cluster. He confides, therefore, in the possibility of quickly opening a dialogue broad and constructive, in which the System Authority Port, as the coordinating body of all the dynamics ports, is ready to play its role in the interest of of the territory, of the operators and institutions in full consistency with its prerogatives and powers".