Italy's regulator asks whether a Naples berth should come with one agent attached
What has been opened
The Autorita Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato authorised an investigation on 23 June and published it in its bulletin. The case is registered as A581 and concerns a possible abuse of dominant position under Article 3 of Italy's competition law, Law 287 of 1990. It follows a complaint lodged in June 2025 by ACQ Italy, a maritime agency based in Venice.
The parties named are Luise Group S.r.l., Joseph Luise E Sons S.r.l., Luise International and Co. S.r.l., Luise Associates S.r.l. and Porto Antico di Stabia S.r.l. The regulator's stated concern is that access to berths in the Gulf of Naples may have been linked to the use of Luise's own agency services, with the effect of foreclosing competing agencies and reinforcing the group's position in yacht services. The authority has been explicit that opening proceedings is not a finding of wrongdoing.
What a yacht agent does, and what he costs
For a yacht arriving in an Italian port, the agent is the person who obtains the berth, clears the vessel, arranges customs and immigration, orders fuel, books provisions and settles the port dues. The fee is usually modest against the size of the spend he controls. The value he actually controls sits in the mark-ups on everything he arranges, and in whether the berth exists at all on the day you want it.
That is why the tying question matters commercially. When one party controls both the scarce berth and the service that gets you into it, the owner cannot test the price of the service, because declining it risks the berth. In an August week in the Bay of Naples, with Capri, Positano and Amalfi on almost every charter itinerary, the berth is the scarce item and everyone in the market knows it.
What it means for a summer itinerary
Nothing changes for this season. Investigations of this kind take a year or more, and the AGCM has powers to impose remedies and fines if it finds an infringement. Owners and charter managers planning a Gulf of Naples call in August will still be dealing with the same market and the same berth scarcity that produced the complaint.
What an owner can do now is document. Ask the agent for an itemised quotation separating the agency fee from the berth cost, the port dues and the third-party supply. Ask whether the berth is available if the agency service is bought elsewhere, and keep the answer in writing. If the practice is later found to have been unlawful, the owners with records are the ones with a claim. It is also worth checking whether your charter contract or management agreement names a specific agent in Italy, because some do, and an owner who has already agreed to one has less room to ask the question.
The wider point about the Mediterranean season
Berth control is quietly becoming the most consequential form of market power in yachting. Marina groups have consolidated, concessions run for decades, and in the busiest weeks the number of berths able to take a 60-metre in the western Mediterranean is small enough to count. Whoever holds those concessions holds a position over every service sold to the yachts that need them.
This case is the first time an Italian regulator has looked directly at the connection between the berth and the services sold alongside it. Whichever way it goes, it establishes that the question is a competition question. The parties named have not responded publicly at the time of writing beyond the standard right of defence recorded by the authority.