Eng
Starting on 1 July 2025, hauliers moving goods to and fr om the port of Livorno will charge customers an additional fee known as the port fee.
Despite its name, the port fee is not imposed by the port authority, but by associations representing transport companies. It is the road hauliers – as was previously seen in Genoa, La Spezia, Naples, and Venice – who are introducing the fee to offset losses caused by chronic delays at port terminals.
The practice of introducing surcharges for port delays began a year earlier in Genoa, wh ere hauliers introduced a congestion fee of EUR 120 to EUR 180 per trip.
Freight forwarders and terminal operators warn that such charges could undermine the competitiveness of ports and lead to price dumping, with only some companies applying the surcharge and others not – gaining customers at the expense of financial sustainability.
Hauliers, however, insist they have no choice: their profit margins are too slim to continue absorbing the costs caused by port inefficiencies.
Source: trans.info