The Port System Authority of the Tyrrhenian Seas Southern and Ionian, the operators of the port of Gioia Tauro, the Local authorities and trade unions have signed a manifesto in which Appeal to the central and regional governments, other institutions and representatives of enterprises and workers to avoid the negative impact that The European directive on emissions from transport maritime, which will enter into force on the first of January, will have on the activity of the Calabrian port.

The manifesto asks whether this will lead to the closure of Gioia Tauro and if "the institutions and the Italian policy to change the timing of the EU which, in the context of of the "Fit For 55" package, which requires the reduction of emissions into the atmosphere also in the maritime sector, has launched the ETS Directive 2023/959, which requires shipowners to compensate annually the pollutant emissions produced'.

In the document, signed, as well as by the AdSP, by Medcenter Container Terminal, Automar, Municipality of Gioia Tauro, Municipality of San Ferdinando, Cgil and Filt-Cgil, Cisl and Fit-Cisl, Uil and Uiltrasporti, Ugl Calabria e Ugl Mare e Porti, Coordinamento Portuali SUL, OR. S.A. Mare e Porti, SILPA and De Masi Industrie Meccaniche, the signatories they emphasize that they fear "that Gioia Tauro may in the turn of a few months be at risk of closure, or at least at risk of a drastic reduction in employment and investment, causes the new system of taxation that could probably induce the lines navigation to move traffic to non-European ports. The danger - they emphasize - is really imminent, the We are already reading about it in the trade press and the lack of concrete sensitivity on this issue worries."

"The port of Gioia Tauro, the largest in Italy for transhipment that this year will mark the Record container handling in its short history but intense - continues the manifesto - could return to be a desert, with cranes dismantled and ships headed for ports of call competitors located in North African countries, where the EU directive would not be applied or would only apply in part, in any case guaranteeing non-European ports an advantage remarkably competitive."

"Defending the environment from ongoing climate change - specify the signatories - it is a duty of nations and men, but we must do it all together by restarting the tape of actions to be taken with the utmost responsibility. Because Drastic measures cannot be accepted in Europe to pollute less and no measures in airports directly competitors to the European ones, located on the other side of the basin of the Mediterranean. Accepting all this would mean not just not achieving the objectives set in Europe, but closing eyes to illogical and irrational measures, with devastating economic, employment and economic consequences especially on that of logistical potential of Italy and Europe'.

"What represents the port of Gioia Tauro today - The document continues - it is there for all to see: almost 4 thousand employees between direct and induced, almost 50% of private GDP Calabrese, the largest logistics platform in Italy and of southern Europe, one of the largest port hubs in the Mediterranean. Seriously penalize a port in full revival as Gioia Tauro would mean sinking Calabria and the South and weaken the whole country. And we support how on this Dramatic prospect the attention must remain very high".

"That's why - explain the subscribers - we launch a new appeal to the national government, to the President of the Region, which expressed itself very clearly, among other things, at the Calabrian Regional Council, to all Calabrian institutions, trade unions, mayors, category, to the workers who work at the port, to the system of companies to increase efforts to avert the end of a strategic infrastructure for the future of the Region where records the highest unemployment rate in Italy, with the wounds of emigration that sees thousands of young people go Away from this land every year. Escapes for need and necessity that impoverish the life and existence of our territories. Finally, we appeal to the parliamentary delegation, the trade unions, men of culture, economists, so that each in his own role intensifies the commitment to the defense of the port of Gioia Tauro and for a more organic defense and credibility of the environment'.

"We - conclude the signatories - in front of these scenarios Apocalyptic we cannot hold back in seeking solutions better, while respecting the energy transition, which, moreover, are not lacking: the Port System Authority has summarily indicated to the government and the European institutions. To example, giving the same rules to Mediterranean ports that play the same lot, having the same vocation to transhipment. Or the provision for European ports with a transhipment vocation, but also for ferries of territorial continuity, of protective mechanisms by way of derogation from the Directive providing for a tax relief on sectors exposed to the risk of relocation'.