The Port System Authority intervenes in support of shipowners and operators. The Mayor of Genoa defends the measure and clarifies: “The surcharge is the fulfillment of an agreement from November 2022 between the then Mayor Bucci and the Meloni government.” But the port-city clash must be avoided in everyone’s interest.
Genoa – The Municipality of Genoa announces an embarkation tax of 3 (three) euros for those boarding cruise ships and ferries. Shipowners and sector operators are rising up against what they define as essentially a levy that would drive ships away. The Adsp of Matteo Paroli rejects the move, branding it as detrimental. Mayor Silvia Salis retorts that it is reasonable for those who use the city and its infrastructure to board cruises and ferries to share in the costs of managing the city itself. Paraphrasing Bertold Brecht, one could say that in Genoa, “The Threepenny Opera” is being staged.
After shipowners and maritime operators who have been tearing their hair out for days, the Port Authority has now entered the fray with a strong stance. “The measure exhibits characteristics of strong discretion and non-uniform applicability across the national territory – explains the authority of President Paroli – with the concrete risk of generating a direct imbalance in the cruise market and in the ferry connections with the islands, which are fundamental for ensuring transport continuity between the mainland and the islands.”
The risk, it is argued, is that cruise ships and ferries may decide to call at other ports, in Italy and abroad. “Genoa, as well as Savona, are in fact the home ports for Msc Crociere and Costa Crociere respectively, in addition to being strategic ports of call for numerous other shipping companies that every year choose the ports of our port system as the starting or ending point of their routes. In a context already marked by very fierce competition between companies and between Mediterranean ports, the unilateral introduction of a passenger tax equal to 3 euros, even though it provides exemptions for residents of the Municipality, for residents of the islands connected in territorial continuity, and for law enforcement and Civil Protection personnel, risks further altering delicate and established dynamics, negatively impacting the attractiveness of the Western Ligurian Sea port system.”
And further: “Competing ports located a few dozen nautical miles away and, across the border, that of Marseille, represent immediately viable alternatives for companies, with potentially significant consequences for municipal and regional GDP and, in the case of shifts towards French ports of call, also for the national one.” The Adsp therefore asks that the measure not be adopted unilaterally and that a discussion be opened with the entire maritime cluster.
The response from Salis and the Deputy Mayor, Councilor for Budget and Relations between Port and City, Alessandro Terrile, was not long in coming. “We are surprised by the astonishment from those who should know that the introduction of the three-euro surcharge per passenger on embarkation fees is the fulfillment of an agreement signed by the then Mayor of Genoa, Marco Bucci, with the Meloni government in November 2022.”
Not only that. “On the merits – they add – it is reasonable that those who use the city and its infrastructure to board cruises and ferries share in the city’s management costs, no differently than what tourists subject to a tourist tax already do in all major Italian tourist destinations.
Moreover, contrary to what the Port Authority claims, we do not believe that three euros of additional charge per passenger, excluding residents of Genoa and the islands, will lead companies to choose other ports of call, given that the costs of moving to reach and visit the Ligurian capital would be much higher.”
In fact, considering that a cruise costs on average 2 thousand euros, 3 euros represent just 0.15% of this amount: certainly not a measure to make a passenger tremble. Regarding the application methods, Salis and Terrile conclude, “we have already called a meeting with the representative associations of shipowners and terminal operators, also extended to the Port System Authority, to start a discussion that we hope will be constructive and in the common interest of the port and the city.”
Well, that is precisely the point. Reaching a clash between port and city, fueling a confrontation between port cities and the cruise industry, would be extremely dangerous. One knows how it begins, but not how it ends. It must be prevented. The relationship must be positive and collaborative. And frankly, waging religious wars over 3 euros, which for the cruise and ferry sector represent a trifle – in the face of an action of support and solidarity towards the city that hosts them and is facing major economic emergencies – seems a bit excessive.
In short, let the port and the city sheathe their sabers and find, in everyone’s interest, a nice Christmas ending for this “Three-Euro Opera.”
