Just over a month after the Palazzo Chigi agreement that helped avert a nationwide road haulage stoppage, the sector is once again showing sharp internal divisions. Trasportounito—the only group that did not sign the deal with the government—has announced a national demonstration on 22 June outside the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport at Porta Pia, in central Rome.
The protest marks the start of a new phase in the group’s confrontation with institutions and puts the spotlight back on long-running weaknesses in a sector that moves the bulk of Italy’s goods and says operating conditions have been steadily worsening.
A rift that is about more than fuel costs
The immediate trigger remains the agreement signed in recent weeks between the government and other haulage associations. Among the headline measures are around 300 million euro in the form of tax credits and an extension of tax deadlines for transport companies. Trasportounito argues these steps fall well short of what is needed given the scale of the crisis.
National secretary Maurizio Longo has called the deal “one of the worst ever reached in the sector”, insisting the funds on the table cannot offset the cost increases faced by operators—especially those tied to fuel.
But the criticism is not limited to short-term financial relief. The association says the talks focused only on the emergency, without addressing the underlying reasons behind the loss of competitiveness in Italian road haulage.
The unresolved structural problems
In the platform it is relaunching ahead of the Rome protest, Trasportounito lists issues it says have been left unanswered for years. These include market rules, the penalties system, road safety, the condition of infrastructure and, above all, the growing difficulty of finding professional drivers.
The driver shortage remains one of the biggest threats to keeping transport businesses running. It is a Europe-wide problem, but in Italy it is particularly acute due to an ageing workforce, the job’s declining appeal and rising demand for logistics services.
Trasportounito warns that without structural action, the economic viability of thousands of companies could be put at risk. Many are already operating on ever-thinner margins while dealing with high energy costs, new environmental rules and intensifying competitive pressure.
A political message aimed at the ministry
Choosing to demonstrate outside the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport is meant to send a clear signal. The association says the administration bears direct responsibility for what it describes as a long period of “total indifference” towards road haulage.
Longo has described the dispute as one with “no alternative”, arguing the sector can no longer settle for emergency measures and must secure a full rethink of the policies governing road freight. His description of the Palazzo Chigi package as “state handouts” underlines how far Trasportounito is from the other groups that accepted the government’s compromise.
