The president of Federlogistica, Luigi Merlo, raises the alarm on the restrictions on ship traffic in the Strait of Messina resulting from the construction of the bridge that will connect Sicily and Calabria. The first warning dates back to over a year ago when, In the wake of the statements of the then new Minister of Finance, Infrastructure and Transport, Matteo Salvini, who has become the standard-bearer of the project for the construction of the bridge, Merlo had said he was in favour to the realization of the work as long as it did not impede the transit of ships ( of 23 February 2023). A warning evidently to be taken seriously consideration being Merlo director of institutional relations for Italy of the Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), the shipowner who controls the container terminal of the port of Gioia Taurus which is boarded by the motherships of the group that transit through the Mediterranean and which they have to distribute through the Calabrian port their cargoes in the region.

Today, in an interview with the Palermo edition of the newspaper "La Repubblica", Merlo reiterated that the bridge over the The Strait of Messina is too low for the transit of the cruise ships and container ships: "There are - he said recalled the president of Federlogistica - more than 68 The way it's designed now, they don't fit through it." In the absence of definitive data on the actual height of the Bridge that, according to what the ministry has repeatedly reiterated, would provide for a navigable clearance of 65 metres if subjected to the maximum load conditions, which would otherwise rise to 70 metres, specifying that for the realization of the work "it is necessary to necessary to take into account all the variables', Merlo noted that being, as the project provides, 'span-span uniquely, the bridge has a curvilinear structure, so there is also a problem of manoeuvrability."

In the article in the Palermo edition of the newspaper, There are also concerns about the construction of the bridge expressed by the university lecturer Domenico Gattuso and it is underlined whereas committees opposed to the construction of the infrastructure have highlighted that 'between 11 and 17% (fully loaded or fully loaded) ballast) of container ships currently in circulation could not pass under the Bridge', echoing the conclusions of an analysis of the bridge's impact on ship traffic in the Strait and on the activities of the port of Gioia Tauro carried out by the Our Newspaper ( of 26 June 2023).