New fare for passengers, ferry companies warn of 2 euro increase in ticket prices

2025-10-28 07:30:00, Ekonomi CNA

New fare for passengers, ferry companies warn of 2 euro increase in ticket

There is no longer any doubt that for every passenger traveling with water, land and air companies, including charter flights, who will be charged a fee of 200 lek per passenger for the transmission of data to the Passenger Intelligence Sector (SIU) that will be managed by the General Directorate of Police, the cost is expected to be reflected in the increase in the ticket price by at least 2 euros.

Passenger ferry companies are among the first to warn that they are expected to include the cost of the additional fee in the price of tickets for passengers.

According to estimates, based on the number of incoming and outgoing passengers, the cost to transport companies from paying the fee could reach around 25 million euros per year for air and sea transport alone.

The cost is calculated based on passenger arrivals and departures for 2024, which total 12.3 million passengers. This does not include arrivals and departures on the ground system via international passenger transport lines.

New passenger fee, companies will pay over 25 million euros per year for the Police system

Bernard Reso, the director of the cruise company “Adria Ferries”, claims for Monitor that this is a new fee, which is not paid by the ferry companies, despite the fact that passenger data is transmitted to 5 Albanian and Italian authorities after boarding. Reso warns that the obligation to pay the fee for data transmission will increase the price of the passenger ticket by 2 euros.

"This can be considered a 'police tax' which will be transferred to the price of the passenger ticket. Ticket prices from the cost of the fee are expected to increase by 2 euros."

The representative of the passenger transport companies by ferry to Italy not only raises concerns that they are not aware of the obligation to pay the fee of 200 lek per passenger, but also emphasizes that they have not been notified of the change in the method of reporting passenger data.

He explains that currently passenger data in excel format, after boarding, is submitted to 5 Albanian authorities, including the Durrës Port Authority, Border Police, Customs, Port Authority and AFTO (a company operating near the ferry terminal) and the Italian authorities. The data contains the full list of passengers after boarding, including name + surname, gender, date of birth, citizenship, type of vehicle (if any) and vehicle license plate number. The data transmission is free of charge.

The Italian company "Adria Ferries" has been operating passenger ferries in Albania since 2004 on international lines, Durrës-Ancona, Durrës-Bari and Durrës-Trieste.

The regulation is also approved.

The fee will be paid for the transmission of data up to 3 times for a travel itinerary, to a unit called the Passenger Intelligence Unit (SIU) and will be managed by the General Directorate of Police.

Following the approval of the decision to apply a fee of 200 lek for transport companies, including airline, maritime and road passenger transport lines, for the transmission of data, the decision with the regulation "On the processing of travel data" was also approved.

The regulation defines everything from how this unit will operate, with personnel with advanced knowledge of computer systems, equipped with "top secret" certificates, to the formats and protocols that will be implemented for the transmission of data from companies to the SIU.

According to the regulation, the SIU staff will consist of qualified employees of the State Police and other operational institutions, equipped with a "Top Secret" security certificate and with advanced knowledge in the field of technology and data analysis.

The unit will operate 24 hours a day and will have the right to receive, process and analyze the data that carriers send for each passenger.

The regulation also defines technical data transfer formats and protocols, which include international standards such as EDIFACT PNRGOV, XML PNRGOV, SFTP, HTTPS, and AS4, to ensure secure and accurate transmission of information.

This data will be sent by the companies 24 to 48 hours before the departure of the trip, then 60 and 180 minutes before departure, and finally after boarding is completed, so that the system has all the information about passengers entering and leaving Albanian territory.

Earlier, the Ministry of Interior explained to Monitor that the SIU was established to enhance national security, prevent and detect international criminal activity, and identify potential threats to the country's border security./ Monitor