"We need a real study on the impact on ports of the ETS for maritime transport to be conducted now. and not in two years' time, when the goods will have left some of them for good. EU ports'. This was underlined by Gunther Bonz, president of the FEPORT, the federation of private port terminal operators European Parliament, referring to the entry into force on January 1 of European standards that have included the transport sector in the EU ETS for emissions trading of the European Union.

On the occasion of the meeting of the General Assembly of the federation held today in Antwerp, the members of FEPORT reiterated their concern because: - they highlighted - with the imminent entry into force of the new rules It is becoming increasingly real that goods are diverted to non-EU ports to the detriment of the of the Union, which was also raised by the measures to prevent the risk of diversion of the goods proposed by the European Commission which provide for monitoring and the possibility of revision of the Rules of Procedure, measures on which the Commission has agreed to report to Parliament and the Council every two years.

"The ports have not been on the radar of the European Commission when the EU ETS was discussed maritime transport, and the real risks of a transfer of goods have not actually been valued. Therefore - has remarked the President of the Federation - We are now in a situation where our terminals can become less competitive and attractive to shipping companies that do not intend to pass on the additional costs of the ETS to their customers, and call at non-EU ports. This, Bonz noted, was not That is the goal of European politicians, but that is the result. Time is running out for EU ports. This is why and we call on the European Commission to immediately launch a study and to carry out a continuous real-time assessment of the EU ETS for maritime transport. The terms of reference of the study should consider all solutions currently proposed by the various port stakeholders in order to avoid the diversion of goods. It is important that everyone We do our best to avoid a detrimental impact on employment in EU ports'.

On the occasion of the FEPORT assembly, it registered its adherence to the Federation of Lübecker Hafen-Gesellschaft mbH, the which manages the port quays of Lübeck.