Health checks: 'Serious delays in Italian ports'

Alarm from Confetra on health checks on goods entering Italian ports and airports. "Despite the constant commitment of the offices of the Ministry of Health and of the managers in charge, with whom a constructive dialogue has always been maintained," says Carlo De Ruvo, president of the Italian General Confederation of Transport and Logistics, "we point out, with growing concern, a serious critical issue: the shortage of health personnel employed in the checks on goods entering the national territory is significantly compromising the efficiency of import operations. This is an extremely urgent situation'.

The problem, 'present for years in several Italian ports and airports,' De Ruvo continues, 'is now particularly alarming in the port of Genoa, Italy's main seaport, where there are increasingly serious delays in the customs clearance of containers, due to a shortage of personnel. These delays are generating additional costs that are now unsustainable for logistics operators and, ultimately, for Italian importers, with a direct impact on the competitiveness of the entire economic system'.

According to Confetra, this is a structural problem: 'The public administration,' explains the president, 'faces enormous difficulties in attracting new resources, especially qualified health professionals, due to non-competitive salary levels, especially at peripheral health offices.

The risk, already concrete in some sectors, is that goods will be diverted to ports and airports in other European countries. The phenomenon, clarifies De Ruvo, 'is already occurring for some products. This leads to an increase in import costs, a loss of competitiveness for our companies and a consequent reduction in national turnover'.

Not only that: 'The lengthening of land routes has a greater environmental impact and, above all, transfers to other countries the responsibility for health checks, which are often less rigorous and effective than those carried out in Italy. This results in fewer guarantees for the health and safety of consumers. In short, we lose out on all fronts'.