Opposing fronts between Assarmatori and Confindustria Nautica over a provision in the Sea Bill

The bill to enhance marine resources, which has been pending in the Senate for months, is under consideration by the Eighth Committee. However, tensions among the stakeholders most affected by some of its provisions have begun to mount.

The one who lit the fire was the president of Assarmatori Stefano Messina, who in an interview with the Naples newspaper The morning, has condemned the "unfair competition" suffered by passenger companies operating on short-haul routes, particularly in the Gulf of Naples, from charter operators. According to the association affiliated with Confcommercio, the bill could now amplify and institutionalize this competition, to the detriment of safety and in violation of the international conventions on passenger transport signed by Italy.

The issue is highly technical and concerns certain sections of Article 15, which provides for several amendments to the 2015 Recreational Boating Code. The issue concerns the commercial use of recreational vessels, which the legislator exceptionally permits (the norm is recreational use). The code currently provides for two types of use: leasing and rental.

In the first case—typically a group of friends, one of whom has a boating license, who want to rent a boat for a vacation—the lessor (shipowner or owner) lends the boat to the lessee, who becomes its owner with the sole requirement of a boating license and can carry as many people (not passengers) as they wish, up to the limit permitted by the vessel's certification. In chartering, the lessor provides the lessor or several lessors with an equipped vessel, complete with a captain and possible crew, and retains ownership responsibility.

Regarding safety features, chartered vessels under 24 meters benefit from the simplified regime established by EC Directive 2013/53/EU, compared to that established for commercial vessels. Vessels over 24 meters must comply with the more stringent safety regulations contained in Ministerial Decree 146/2008. These regulations apply directly to charters, but only for up to 12 passengers. If the vessel exceeds this number (provided the certificate of qualification allows it), it becomes a "passenger vessel" under the SOLAS Convention, which requires a much stricter regime. The same applies to crew certification and liability.

The bill introduces a subtype of leasing ("Leasing with prescription of captain") that would essentially allow a company to lease a pleasure craft, entrusting its command to a person with unspecified professional qualifications. However, as outlined in a parliamentary hearing by Assarmatori, this scenario would amount to "a rental disguised as a rental." This, combined with some amendments to the charter regulations, would ultimately allow passenger transport activities with vessels and, more importantly, rules that are far less stringent than those for commercial use, as required for pleasure craft. Furthermore, this would expose Italy to a violation of the SOLAS Act.

Parliamentary documentation shows that the legislation was particularly supported by Confindustria Nautica, which rebutted the accusations and defended the bill's purpose as a tool to combat foreign competition, especially French competition, in the nautical charter sector. However, faced with the concerns of some senators—particularly those who speculated that the new law could allow, for example, a hotel to rent a vessel and offer scheduled services in underqualified competition with respect to transport operators—Confindustria's head of institutional relations, Roberto Neglia, acknowledged the reasons, expressing his openness to an amendment that would limit the limitation period for chartering to natural persons.

The proposed amendment put forward by Assarmatori also explicitly limits the number of 12 people, but neither Neglia nor Confindustria Nautica responded to Shipping Italy regarding their support for such a proposal. It's noteworthy that the issue was not addressed in the document submitted to the Senate by the General Command of the Coast Guard: "We do not have—and were not asked for—a position because we are not authorized to express one, but rather the competent general directorate of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport," a spokesperson explained. However, to date, the spokesperson has not provided an opinion to the senators nor clarified whether it intends to do so.

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