Confitarma, Sos tricolor bureaucracy on ships to be defended
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The organization and the procedures that regulate the assignment of the Italian flag to the armament need a strong and urgent simplification intervention; otherwise, the risk is that the fleet currently flying the tricolor will switch to other flags. An exodus that has already begun for some time and has intensified due to the strong restrictions imposed on our flag (and not on other European ones) by the war between Russia and Ukraine.
And the time to change is short because, in the first half of this year, the implementing decree of Legislative Decree 144/2022 is expected from the Ministry of Infrastructure which, implementing the indications of Europe (EU Decision C/2020 3667), will extend the tax benefits of the Italian International Naval Register (created in 1998) to all EU countries and the European Economic Area. Including those, such as Malta, Madeira, Luxembourg or Cyprus, which allow access to one’s own flag without the thousand bureaucratic snares that characterize the Italian process.
The slimming of the Italian fleet
Confitarma raised the alarm, data in hand: as of 1 November 2022, the Italian flag fleet is in 17th place in the world ranking, according to the association’s research office, with 13.6 million tons of gross tonnage, recording a decrease of 3.8% compared to 14.2 million in 2021. A trend that has continued since 2018, when the flag fleet recorded 15.1 million tons. In the European context, the tricolor fleet ranks 6th after the Maltese, Greek, Cypriot, Danish and Madeira Register fleets.
«During 2022 – underlines the president of Confitarma, Mario Mattioli – we had a slight reduction in the fleet which also made us lose some places in the European ranking. This for the Italian flag; but if we then take a broader look at the fleet controlled by the Italian shipowning industry, we find an increase compared to the previous year». In fact, as regards ships belonging to Italian interests, our country, globally, is placed in 8th place, with almost 51 million tons and a +7% compared to 47.5 million in 2021 as well as a +21% compared to 42.1 in 2018. In the EU, then, Italy ranks 3rd, after Greece and Germany. The data therefore show a decline in the appeal of the Italian flag, which is counterbalanced by an increase in the industrial capacity of the national armament.
More attractive foreign flags
This situation, continues Mattioli, «suggests that, for a series of reasons, Italian shipowners are already using foreign flags. Whoever does so, loses the benefits that Italy allows for its own international registry (Italian and European personnel on board, completely exempt from taxation and social security contributions taxed by the State, ed)”. Those who, on the other hand, embark Italian seafarers on a foreign flag (who do not pay taxes in Italy because they receive income abroad), will still have to pay the Italian seafarers’ social security the amount due to the seafarers themselves.
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