FEPORT, the federation of private port terminalists Europeans, which met last Friday in Saintes Mr Maries de la Mer welcomed the vote of the last 24 May with which the Committee on Transport and Tourism of the European Parliament has accepted the political agreement on AFIR Regulation on the construction of infrastructure for alternative fuels and the Fuel-EU Maritime Regulation on the use of renewable and low-emission fuels carbon in shipping, thus reiterating - has highlighted the federation - the responsibility of the States members, in collaboration with the managing body of the port or other competent authorities, in the supply of electricity from land to ships mooring in the port. FEPORT found that This position is consistent with the European regulation 2017/352 establishing a framework for the provision of services Ports and the 2017 amendment to the General Regulation of block exemption (GBER) and - observed the federation of terminal operators - should not be a reason for an implementation uneven in the different European ports. 'If in some ports the private port operators were forced to invest in OPS while in other Member States other operators do not burden of the installation costs of the OPS - underlined FEPORT referring to cold ironing systems to supply electricity of land to ships in ports - this would create conditions of disparities between operators carrying out activities in different ports'.

Referring then to the European decision to include transport maritime in the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS), the federation has specified that despite its associates are still concerned about the risk that goods are diverted to non-EU ports once the ETS enters However, they welcome the fact that the EU ETS policy requests the European Commission to monitor the effects of diverting cargo and proposing measures if it is established that the goods are actually conveyed to non-European ports. Monitoring that FEPORT hopes that it will be implemented as soon as the EU ETS comes into force vigour.

Furthermore, FEPORT specified that the agreement of the Parliament and the Council of the EU to allocate part of the EU ETS revenue, equal to 20 million allowances, dedicated maritime tenders under the Innovation Fund, which also aims to improve Energy efficiency in ports is excellent news that It must take shape in the near future.

During the assembly, FEPORT members discussed also of an issue dear to terminal operators, namely the inclusion of Income from land transport and handling of cargo, logistics and shipping in the regimes of taxation for shipowners based on a tax on tonnage. Terminal operators pointed out that the Council of the EU of 14 December on the introduction of a Overall minimum taxation level for groups multinational companies, which will have to be transposed by the Member States by the end of 2023, represents an opportunity to remind European states that they can no longer include these revenues in their tonnage tax regimes. 'It's The time has come for the EU Commission to ask Member States to apply EU rules on eligibility of the tonne tax," noted the president of FEPORT, Gunther Bonz, referring to the guidelines on State aid to maritime transport. 'FEPORT - has underlined Bonz - believes that the EU Commission, guardian of the Treaty and equal treatment between all sectors of the economy, within the maritime logistics chain should restore a level playing field as regards taxation. The Our associates are confident that the European Commission will contribute the necessary amendments to all legislative acts and decisions that violate the OECD agreement approved by all states Member States and transposed by the directive of last December'.