Port terminals, the sector risks extra costs of 200 million
The alarm sounded at the Assiterminal assembly. President Cognolato: 'We aim to create a single representation for the industry'
Key points
The prevailing orientation of jurisprudence on the subject of holiday allowances risks causing extra costs of 200 million euros for the port terminal sector. This was emphasised by Tomaso Cognolato, president of Assiterminal, who has just been reconfirmed at the helm of the organisation for the three-year period 2026-2028, during the organisation's public assembly, during which its 25th anniversary was also celebrated.
An alarm bell that was rung within an articulated reflection on the sector, in which Cognolato expressed three 'wishes' that cannot be renounced for the sector to have clear reference parameters (i.e. legal certainty) on which to build and develop the economic-financial plans of port terminals; to unify the competences of the control bodies, so that they operate uniformly throughout the national territory, according to coordinated governance; to achieve a single representation of the port sector, i.e. that the three reference employers' associations (Uniport, Assologistica and Assiterminal) find a union, putting an end to the current fragmentation.
Wednesday allowances in the crosshairs
Cognolato, emphasised the issue of the jurisprudential interpretation prevailing in Italia, in line with a ruling of the EU Court of Justice, according to which holidays must be paid on a par with normal working days. An orientation that hits the maritime sector hard (there are already rulings in this field), where staff working days are covered by numerous allowances that would thus enter into the remuneration of the holiday period. With the aggravating circumstance for companies, sanctioned by the Supreme Court, of having to recognise arrears from 2007 onwards.
This orientation, said Cognolato, 'risks bringing extra costs in our sector of around EUR 200 million. It is no better for rail transport, aviation, shipping, logistics and other operational worlds. If the politicians do not intervene, at least curbing the statute of limitations, the system will certainly have serious repercussions'.
Ports Reform: "Harmonise rules and regulations"
Assiterminal's president maintained a cautious line on the ports ddl, which has yet to begin its process in parliament, saying that he shared "the objective of strengthening the coordination of the port system authorities' investments" but hoping for "a harmonisation of rules and regulations" and reserving for Assiterminal "as the most representative stakeholder in the parliamentary debate, to enter into the merits of other aspects that may represent a criticality, as far as some mechanisms that we have glimpsed are concerned".
