"Transporting goods from Sardinia is becoming increasingly expensive, and for many agricultural and agri-food companies, it has become a major factor in the crisis."

Coldiretti Sardegna raised the alarm during the final stage of the first round of local meetings organized across the island to take stock of the outstanding critical issues in the primary sector.

"In five years," the association emphasizes, " price increases have reached 50%, eroding margins, putting pressure on budgets, and widening the competitive gap with the rest of Italy and Europe . This burden is worth millions of euros and risks compromising the very survival of island businesses."

The Coldiretti Sardinia meeting was attended by the heads of the regional federation with the Council, the presidents and directors of the provincial federations Coldiretti Cagliari, Nuoro, Sassari and Oristano, representatives of the agricultural and agri-food companies and representatives of the institutions with the councilors for Agriculture and Transport, Francesco Agus and Barbara Manca, as well as representatives of the Regional Council, to whom Coldiretti presented the overall critical issues that had emerged in the territories and the proposals put forward by the organization.

The central theme of the meeting, as mentioned, was freight transport, considered one of the main factors penalizing Sardinian businesses.

According to the data presented, "transport costs increase by an average of about 10% each year, with an overall increase of 50% in the last five years, significantly impacting the turnover of the island's agricultural and agri-food companies and reducing their competitiveness on the markets."

Among the factors contributing to the rising costs, Coldiretti also cited the extension of the European Emissions Trading System (ETS) to maritime transport starting in 2024. "This mechanism imposes a cost on CO₂ emissions, which is passed on to transport rates, resulting in higher freight rates, higher logistics costs, and