Sicily's busiest ferry corridors to mainland Italy face tens of millions of euros in added annual expense under the European Union's maritime carbon-pricing regime, a burden that port operators warn could force ticket prices up by roughly 15 percent.
A study commissioned by the System of Port Authorities of the Western Sicilian Sea from consultancy TiM10 found that the Emissions Trading System, extended to maritime transport in 2024, would cost nearly €20 million a year on the Genoa–Palermo route and more than €11 million on Naples–Palermo. An additional million euros would hit the Porto Empedocle–Lampedusa link if an existing exemption for smaller islands is not renewed. ETS costs can consume up to 11 percent of a new low-emission vessel's value each year.
With a revision of the ETS directive due on 17 July, Annalisa Tardino is calling for the exemption already granted to minor islands to be extended to larger ones and kept in force through 2032.