Thousands of jobs are at risk on the island due to high transport costs and the ETS, the emissions “tax.”
This is the alarm raised by Confindustria Sardegna, regarding the "out-of-control" increases in maritime transport that are severely impacting the production system. Between fuel prices and the extension of the ETS to maritime transport, all costs are being passed on to businesses and end consumers. And for Sardinian companies, which rely entirely on maritime transport for supplies and exports, this represents a "severe blow to competitiveness," which "threatens" the very survival of their businesses.
In a short time , transportation costs have increased by 40%, and it is estimated that over the last three years the increased costs borne by companies due to the ETS have exceeded 150 million per year . This figure has been defined as "disproportionate."
"The risk," warns Andrea Porcu, director of Confindustria Sardegna , "is that of witnessing the progressive loss of competitiveness of entire production sectors, with dire consequences for employment and society. Sardinian companies can no longer continue to sustain higher transportation costs than their competitors in the rest of Italy and Europe ."
According to estimates by the Confindustria Research Center, in the coming months, without regional or national intervention, "several thousand jobs" will be at risk, particularly in the "agri-food, stone, logistics, manufacturing, and related supply chains" sectors .
In fact, several companies, given the unsustainability of costs, could be forced to close.
The association is calling on the Sardinia Region to provide compensatory economic assistance "to ensure the territorial continuity of goods and the competitiveness of Sardinian businesses." Because "we cannot allow our economic and productive system, families, workers, and Sardinia as a whole, to pay such a high price for the inaction of regional and national institutions, which fail to take into account the island's specific territorial characteristics."
