TRIESTE – The Port System Authority of the Eastern Adriatic Sea has decided to increase by 50% port and state taxes for goods loaded and disembarked in the Free Points of the port of Trieste.
The decision comes after the cancellation of the decree which hypothesized increases of more than 100% and the discussion with the port operators whose requests were brought forward by Confetra Fvg and the AsptAstra freight forwarders. Monfalcone airport is excluded from the increase (where the free point regime does not exist).
The new taxes come in effective July 1st and exclude, as already done in the first instance, the traffic of crude oil (because it was already subject to increases previously).
The surcharge, however, will be 20% (calculated on the increased rates of port taxes and not on absolute tons) always for goods in Free Points. In this case it is a kind of “purpose tax”, to support the supervisory tasks and security services of the Authority. Also in this case, trafficking in “mineral oils and their derivatives” is excluded. The additional charge will come in effective July 2 and will expire December 31.
«It was a process of discussion on the objectives and needs of the Port Authority, in relation to the costs borne by strategic and security sectors. All of it – he explained the Commissioner of the Authority, Vittorio Torbianelli – also in a situation of balance between our needs and those of the operators, which we have carefully examined. The proposal is now more balanced than the previous one and takes into consideration, in fact, some proposals from operators, in particular on some types of goods”
«The Port System Authority evaluated the elements that we had brought to its attention and consequently decided to increase the taxes on goods loaded and disembarked at the international free port of Trieste, while keeping them lower than those of the other national ports. We therefore trust that this increase will not lead to reductions in traffic. A temporary purpose tax is introduced which should allow us to complete the digitalisation of the entry and exit processes at the ports of Trieste and Monfalcone, with significant time savings at the port gates. Finally, our request not to increase port taxes on goods in transit at the port of Monfalcone was implemented, which due to their type and unit value would have been strongly affected by an increase” he commented Stefano Visintin, president of Confetra Fvg.
