Protecting shipping from the ideological excesses of Green European Deal. This is what Assarmatori asked for on the occasion of A two-day mission to Brussels by the shipowners' association during which a large delegation composed of members of the board of directors, shipowners, managers and part of the structure of the association has had a series of high-level meetings level and operational levels, including the one with the Executive Vice President of the European Commission, Raffaele Fitto.

"Maritime transport - underlined the president of Assarmatori, Stefano Messina - is a key element for ensure Europe's security and cohesion, and it is even more so reason in Italy where it operates a fleet of ferries at the top of world class in terms of tonnage, load capacity and Passenger. A segment to be protected, especially from excesses of the Green Deal, starting with the distortions of the system ETS, to maintain and implement its strategic nature".

"The maritime-port sector - Messina continued - is essential part of the security of European value chains and of the cohesion of society and the economy of our continent. In times when the control of these chains and the procurement has become a central factor of the geopolitics of the great powers, the strategic role of the sector emerges clearly, as already happened during the pandemic crisis. To this must be added the essential function turning point for passenger and freight transport for the islands, major and minors, both Italian and more generally in the and the services of the Motorways of the Sea, which make a significant contribution to sustainability thanks to the modal shift. The cohesion of territories island and coastal areas is also and above all guaranteed by the sea routes that make it possible to connect them in a efficient and punctual. At the same time, the role of the transhipment of containers from ETS distortions, which give a competitive advantage to airports located just beyond outside the European borders, such as those of North Africa. The risk is that of a desertification of strategic hubs such as that of Gioia Tauro, with consequent loss of control over the junctions of containerized maritime transport".

On the occasion of a dinner with over one hundred representatives of the European institutions, moreover, the president of Assarmatori noted that "the strengths and peculiarities of the Italian maritime transport have not been sufficiently valued at European level in past years. The new course inaugurated by the programmatic policies of the Clean Industrial Deal - Messina observed - marks an important step forward in this sense. Now let's overcome the excesses of the Green Deal to free up renewing fleets and accelerating the deployment of sustainable marine fuels, with a focus on ferry sector which in our country is one of the irreplaceable infrastructure and cannot bear the burden ETS in a very fragile market situation'.