Ahead of this evening's trilogue on the reform of the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS), in which the representatives of Parliament, the Council and the Commission of the European Union are expected to reach an interim agreement of compromise on the inclusion of shipping in this market on the basis of an agreement reached in fact last week, the Italian shipowner association Assshipowners recalled and again reported, with alarm, whereas there will be no alignment within the ETS between shipping and road transport.

The association explained that if the agreement, compared to the European Commission's initial proposal, should provide for the exemption from such a scheme until 2030, at least as far as maritime links with the smaller islands are concerned, and the destination of a portion of the proceeds to the maritime sector to finance investments in innovation, while simultaneously forecasting a timeline of gradual and dilastrated application of one year, remains open, however, what Assshipowners pointed out to be a fundamental issue : the lack of equal conditions, precisely between shipping and road transport.

"We have been insisting on the need to protect the Autostrade of the Sea from the risk of reverse modal transfer, from the sea to the road, which would result from an increase in costs, and therefore of a lesser extent," the company said. competitiveness, consequent to the inclusion of maritime transport in the ETS. The association-in case of temporal disparity in the application of the two regimes-did not mention the hypothesis that it would see such a pattern applied only to maritime transport, which would be submerged with the effects already particularly impactful of that measure. "

Assshipowners said in this regard they had welcomed the position adopted by Interferry, the international association representing shipping companies operating ferry services, which-explained Assshipowners-said. " By marrying in the facts the instances brought forward for months by the association, it calls on EU negotiators to ensure a temporal uniformity in the ETS between the two modes of transport in order to avert the modal back shift from the sea to the whole road. Such a scenario would, in fact, undermine all the policies that have been implemented in recent years, at the national and European level, which have incentivized, even economically, the maritime links such as the opportunities to decongestive roads and thus reduce emissions. The European Commission itself in its study of the impact of the ETS had envisioned the application of the scheme to the two modes of transport with a similar timeline. "

"We want to-it is the final message of the president of Assshipowners, Stefano Messina-to make a final appeal to EU negotiators not only in the run-up to this evening's meeting, which should provisionally close the maritime transport chapter," he said. also of the upcoming sessions in which the unresolved nodes of the entire ETS reform proposal will be discussed : the European Union has set ambitious goals of modal shift from the road to short-haul shipping of 25% and 50% respectively by 2030 and 2050. The achievement of these targets would be put seriously at risk in the case of the applicative and temporal discrepancy of the ETS between sea and road, as evidently underscored by Interferry. We therefore reaffirm that the timing of the application of the ETS for maritime transport, in particular for the services of the Autostrade of the Sea, and that of road transport should be coordinated and aligned in order to prevent dangerous, and potentially irreversible, modal transfer phenomena contrary to the goals that the EU has been supporting for decades. "