Confitarma

Confitarma — the Confederazione Italiana Armatori (Italian Shipowners' Confederation) — is the trade association of the Italian shipping industry and a member of Confindustria. Founded in 1901 under the name Federazione Armatori Italiani, it represents Italian shipping companies and shipowning groups active in freight and passenger transport, the Motorways of the Sea and local public transport, the cruise sector, and auxiliary traffic services. Its membership also includes significant industrial and non-shipowning associative bodies belonging to the Italian maritime cluster. The confederation's core purpose is to promote the development of the Italian merchant marine, assisting and protecting the interests of member companies before political, administrative, and public or private bodies at national and international level. It negotiates economic and trade-union agreements and collective labour contracts, and provides information and consultancy to members. Confitarma is a signatory, on the employers' side (together with Assarmatori, Assorimorchiatori and Federarmatori), of the national collective labour agreement for the maritime sector concluded with FILT-CGIL, FIT-CISL and UIL Trasporti. In scale, Confitarma brings together more than 230 shipowning groups, shipping companies, firms and bodies, accounting for around 24,000 employees (over 49,000 including related industries) and more than 1,000 ships — equivalent to about 94% of the tonnage of the Italian merchant fleet. It adheres to Confindustria and Federtrasporto, and internationally is part of the European Community Shipowners' Associations (ECSA) and the International Chamber of Shipping. Confitarma's history has not been linear. After 1960 Italian shipowners split first into two and then three trade associations, and only in 1976 was reunification achieved with the Associazione Armatori Liberi of Genoa and the Associazione Armatori Meridionali of Naples. In 2018 the associative landscape fragmented again with the birth of Assarmatori, one of the main points of contention being the extension of tax benefits to EU shipowners operating in Italy. Today Confitarma remains a central interlocutor for government on issues such as port governance reform, maritime security and the protection of Italian vessels in crisis zones such as the Red Sea.

Confitarma was founded in 1901 under the name Federazione Armatori Italiani, with Federico Vaccaro as its first president. Over the decades it changed its legal name several times. After 1960 the association entered a turbulent period, as Italian shipowners split first into two and then into three trade associations. Reunification was achieved only in 1976, when the organisation merged with the Associazione Armatori Liberi of Genoa, presided over by Glauco Lolli Ghetti, and the Associazione Armatori Meridionali of Naples. In that reunified phase Giuseppe Perasso became director general and Ermanno Guani president. From 1976 onward the confederation was led by a succession of presidents: Ermanno Guani (1976-1980), the diplomat Egidio Ortona (1980-1988), the shipowner Antonio d'Amico (1988-1992), the shipowner Aldo Grimaldi (1992-1996), the shipowner Paolo Clerici (1996-2000), the shipowner Giovanni Montanari (2000-2004), the international tax specialist Nicola Coccia (2004-2011), the shipowner Paolo d'Amico (2011-2013), the shipowner Emanuele Grimaldi (2013-2017), and Mario Mattioli (2017-2023). On the management side, directors general have been Giuseppe Perasso (1976-1998), Luigi Perissich (1998-2003), Gennaro Fiore (2003-2017), and Luca Sisto (2018-present). In 2018 the associative landscape fragmented once again with the birth of Assarmatori. One of the main points of contention between the two associations concerned the methods for extending tax benefits to EU shipowners operating in Italy. Despite this split, Confitarma has remained the largest and most historically rooted representative body of the Italian merchant marine, and it continues to engage with government on current policy questions — from port governance reform to maritime cyber-resilience and the security of Italian vessels in the Red Sea.

• 2026

  Confitarma engages on port governance reform with Deputy Minister Rixi and welcomes government measures to protect Italian ships in the Red Sea.

• 2018

  The associative landscape fragments again with the birth of Assarmatori; Luca Sisto becomes director general.

• 1976

  Reunification with the Associazione Armatori Liberi of Genoa and the Associazione Armatori Meridionali of Naples; Giuseppe Perasso becomes director general and Ermanno Guani president.

• 1960

  Start of a turbulent period in which Italian shipowners split first into two, then three trade associations.

• 1901

  Founded as Federazione Armatori Italiani, with Federico Vaccaro as first president.

The historic, Confindustria-affiliated confederation of the Italian merchant shipping industry, representing the large majority of Italian fleet tonnage and acting as the sector's institutional interlocutor.

• Institutional representation and lobbying for Italian shipowners

• Negotiation of collective labour agreements for the maritime sector

• Information and consultancy services for member companies

1. 1Confederazione Italiana Armatori — official websiteconfitarma.it
2. 2Confitarma — Chi Siamoconfitarma.it
3. 3Confitarma — Wikidatawikidata.org
4. 4Confitarma — Wikipedia (Italian)it.wikipedia.org