The Italian Association of Port Terminal Operators reiterates its their perplexities about the competences assigned to the new Porti d'Italia Spa company as provided for by the bill on port governance that in the days was the focus of the informal hearings at the Transport, Post and Telecommunications Committee of the Chamber of Deputies deputies in which Assiterminal itself participated ( of 30 June 2026).

In a note, Assiterminal reaffirms "the risk of overlaps between the competences of Porti d'Italia Spa and those already attributed to the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, to the Port System Authority, the Port Authority Regulation of Transport, already - according to the association - harbingers of problems that ultimately tend to discourage private investments". For Assiterminal, "it will be necessary, in fact, pay particular attention to the possible dual role of this new subject, to respect the principle of separation between public functions and economic activities, to the powers to the role of the System Authorities port and the stable involvement of the economic in planning". In this regard, The association proposes to make it more coherent and compatible the proposal to establish a national direction on investments strategic with the operational and territorial role currently by the Port System Authorities, whose decision-making proximity - in the opinion of Assiterminal - must be preserved within the framework of a unitary governance.

"This - specify the president and the director of Assiterminal, Tomaso Cognolato and Alessandro Ferrari - is possible through a clearer definition of the structure governance and a clear distinction between planning and management, concession functions and economic activities, a limitation of the substitute powers for strictly necessary cases and the strengthening coordination with the National Conference of Port System Authority, the Partnership Body and the employers' associations comparatively more representatives".

"It would also be useful - they add - to intervene to ensure a clearer distinction between the functions of strategic and management guidelines and planning in compliance with the principle of separation between the of public functions and the performance of activities economic ones. In this perspective, it is considered necessary to circumscribe in a clearer and more punctual way the operational role of the Ports d'Italia S.p.a. Probably a reflection can be also with regard to the regulation of the substitute powers of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, providing for a use limited only to cases of actual and proven need, in compliance with the principle of loyal collaboration between the different levels of governance of the port system".

To this end, rather than restoring the old structures of the Port Authorities, Assiterminal hypothesizes to strengthen the stable involvement of coordination and economic representations representative, through a more effective connection with the National Conference of Port System Authorities, with the Partnership Body of the Sea Resource and with the associations employers, in order to ensure that the planning of strategic investments is based on a structured discussion with operators in the sector and meets the actual needs of the national port system.

According to Assiterminal, "the framework of concessions is already complex: aggravated by the overlapping of competences and regulatory uncertainty, the latter - underlines the association - cause of non-uniform treatment for private concessionaires that affect the stability of the concession relationships, on the maintenance of the balance economic and financial for concessionaires, on the recognition of non-amortised investments, and on the risk of increasing burdens on users and the need to avoid regional impositions on port state fees". "We have reiterated on several occasions - recall Cognolato and Ferrari - the importance of a revision and simplification of the framework concession to ensure stability and transparency. Moreover, the increase in complexity, also in the discrepancies of the costs, can risk distorting competition between different terminal operators". For this reason, they observe, "given This complex picture seems to us a bit forced: the hypothesis of dual multi-subjective case relating to hypothetical custody joint venture between the Port System Authority and the Ports of Italy S.p.A. of port concessions. It would therefore be necessary to maintain the award of port concessions to the Port System Authority also in cases of financing of the work by the private applicant, since a modification of this competence would also require changes of all secondary legislation (including Dim 202/2022, Ministerial Decree 110/2023 and local state property regulations). It is even more important - Cognolato and Ferrari again point out - to strengthen the certainty of the concession framework and the uniformity of its discipline, providing for rebalancing tools economic-financial, enhancement of investments made by concessionaires and clear rules on the takeover value. We will propose therefore, inter alia, to exclude the possibility of collect additional regional or territorial levies on fees concessionaires, so as to preserve national uniformity, competitive parity between airports and sustainability of investments".

Finally, Assiterminal considers it necessary to intervene on Article 5 sexies by providing that port concessions are entrusted exclusively by the Port Authority, including, at most, a mandatory opinion of the MIT in the case of works included in the Plan referred to in art. 4 ter. "Last but not least - specifies the association - paragraph 8 of Article 29: provides for a Mechanism for verifying the conformity of concessions already issued to the interministerial decree MIT-MEF 202 of 28 December 2022, with the possibility of imposing the amendment of the contractual clauses by means of an additional act and, in the event of non-compliance, to order the revocation of the concession". For Assiterminal, "this provision must be repealed".