Earlier this year, Stena Line were among the first ferry operators to declare they would be implementing a surcharge. The company said that ETS would have a significant impact on the cost base for the industry, and added that the increased cost would need to be absorbed by the market.
“With shipping in ETS starting next year, we will introduce a surcharge towards all customers in January 2024. This surcharge will be specified towards customers for best transparency. As the launch of ETS approaches, more details will become available from the EU and we will gradually inform customers regarding the anticipated effects,” writes Stena Line on its website.
More recently, Maersk, CMA CGM and Hapag-Lloyd also revealed ETS surcharges.
Moreover, last month, it emerged that Italy, Portugal, Malta, Greece, Cyprus and Belgium had all expressed concerns about the impact ETS could have on their ports.
That news followed a press release issued in September by the European Sea Ports Organisation (ESPO), who said that it was seriously concerned about the 2024 ETS regulations creating “carbon and business leakage” for EU ports.
“ESPO fully agrees with the identification of Tanger Med and East Port Said as major neighbouring transshipments ports. However, it will not be enough to ensure that evasion cannot take place. While only a few neighbouring ports are reaching the very high transhipment volume thresholds put forward in the legislation (65%), many ports and terminals around Europe have and/or are building up transhipment capacity. The Commission should therefore not only look at current volumes, but also consider the transhipment capacity in the different ports neighbouring the EU,” said ESPO, in the aforementioned press release.
Now it has emerged that the latest industry body to take aim at ETS is the European Shortsea Network.
In a press release, the organisation said that despite the significant efforts being made by Short Sea Shipping (SSS) companies to improve the energy efficiency of their fleet and reduce the emissions, there is “currently no optimal solution for the decarbonisation of maritime transport”. The organisation added that future fuels are not defined, and the capacity to supply them to the maritime transport industry is not assured.
“The entry into force of the directive will lead to an increase in the operating costs of SSS services that will reduce the competitiveness of SSS transport chains, not contributing this directive to the natural rapprochement between the different modes that collaborate in the SSS and foreseeably causing a setback in the increase achieved in recent years in the use of the SSS by road freight hauliers,” said European Shortsea Network.
To remedy the above, the European Shortsea Network has called on the EU to modify the emissions trading system so that it is not detrimental to the overall interests of the EU and to fight against climate change. It adds that a moratorium on the entry into force of the Directive should be approved, in order to avoid a secondary effect contrary to the intended one.
Photo: Jean Housen, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons