Snl appeals against the transfer of the Lake Maggiore route

The Lake Lugano navigation company has lodged an appeal with the cantonal administrative court. It is challenging the Ticino government's decision to transfer the Locarno-Tenero-Magadino route to Fart.

The central argument of the appeal concerns competence. According to the company, "the Canton of Ticino has no say whatsoever over the navigation concession on Lake Maggiore".

Snl bases its position on an international convention between Italy and Switzerland governing navigation on Lake Maggiore. Under that framework the Italian state administration of public navigation services, known by the abbreviation Ggnl, holds the exclusive right of use over the routes and landing stages.

A concession running to 2046

Through Ggnl, Snl holds an exclusive concession that expires in 2046. On that basis the company maintains that only it and the Italian body are authorised to run public passenger transport on the Swiss waters of Lake Maggiore.

The appeal also retraces the sequence of cantonal decisions. In October 2025 and again in January 2026 the canton had announced its intention to withdraw the subsidy for the route on financial grounds. On neither occasion, the company notes, was the transfer of the service to another operator proposed.

That distinction lies at the heart of the challenge. Withdrawing a public contribution and assigning a service to another company are two different acts, and Snl holds that the second is not within cantonal powers.

The route links Locarno to Tenero and Magadino and serves a stretch lying entirely in Swiss territory. What sets Lake Maggiore apart is that the basin is shared with Italy, which is why navigation is governed by an agreement between the two countries rather than by cantonal law alone.

No date has been given for a ruling by the cantonal administrative court. Nor has it been stated whether the appeal suspends the contested decision, or what will happen to the service in the meantime.