Guarantee the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport a central role in the strategies needed to root interventions to support the decarbonization of maritime transport. This is requested in a joint note by ALIS, Ancip, Angopi, Assarmatori, Assiterminal, Assocostieri, Assoporti, Assorimorchiatori, Confitarma, Fedepiloti, Federagenti, Federimorchiatori and Uniport, associations that represent the entire maritime and port cluster of the country. The draft legislative decree that will implement in Italy the European directive that has modified, after more than twenty years, the system for trading greenhouse gas emissions quotas in the Union, with the inclusion of maritime transport in the ETS regime, does not take, in the unanimous opinion of the associations, adequately into account the need to maintain the prerogatives aimed at defining maritime policies at the Ministry of Porta Pia. This will also be possible by taking advantage of the deep expertise gained in the twenty-year implementation of actions in support of the Motorways of the Sea (as well as rail-sea intermodality) and the recent experience of the most important fleet renewal aid scheme developed in Europe.

In the parliamentary hearings held in recent weeks at the Chamber of Deputies and in the written contributions filed with the Chamber and Senate, all stakeholders highlighted, with concern, a substantial absence of the MIT at the consultation table in which the competent ministries proceed with the allocation of the resources generated by the EU-ETS. Nor, even more alarmingly, is the distribution of funds in favor of the MIT envisaged, a distribution that remains the exclusive responsibility of the Ministry of the Environment and Energy Security and the Ministry of Business and Made in Italy.

As is known, in the maritime sector, the ETS regime should be aimed at supporting decarbonization through interventions to support the consumption of alternative fuels, to support the Sea Modal Shift and the renewal of fleets and port facilities. The first area of ​​intervention seems to fall within the competence of the MASE which has all the necessary technical knowledge. On the contrary, the remaining actions envisaged by European legislation are undoubtedly subordinate to the definition of suitable maritime policies in the transport chain, attributed to the MIT which makes use of undoubted skills acquired also in constant dialogue with all stakeholders.

The absence of an actor aware of the dynamics of this delicate sector and the lack of dedicated funds at its disposal risk significantly reducing the effectiveness of the actions expected by the market and society.

In this context, the Associations hope that the members of the Permanent Commissions 8th, 4th and 5th of the Senate and VIII, XIV and V of the Chamber of Deputies, called to provide the Council of Ministers with their authoritative opinion on the draft legislative decree by 30 July, can highlight to the Government the need to modify the text of this draft in order to guarantee the necessary tools to ensure an adequate correspondence between what is generated in financial terms by maritime transport and what is actually made available, in the same sector, in terms of resources necessary to support the measures envisaged by the Union. Net of the risk of failure of the policies to reduce emissions, the competitiveness of the largest European market of Motorways of the Sea, connections with the islands and cruise services is at stake.