The extension to the maritime transport industry of the EU ETS for the exchange of European Union emission allowances leads to a loss of competitiveness of EU ports. FEPORT, the federation of European private port terminalists, has five months since the entry into force of the rules, which have included shipping in the ETS with effect from last January. "The competitiveness of European ports will be put to the test by changes in trade patterns or by the European Union," FEPORT Chairman Gunther Bonz said at the annual general meeting in Antwerp. costs arising from the entry into force of new regulations. The port companies and private port terminals located in the EU will compete with operators carrying out activities in extra-EU ports that are not affected by legislative acts such as EU ETS Maritime. The impact of this directive on European ports has not been sufficiently assessed and, unfortunately, will lead to a loss of activity to the detriment of the port companies and private terminals based in the EU. "

"The EU should intensify its diplomatic efforts to achieve the adoption in IMO of a global scheme comparable to the ETS for the maritime sector," the EU executive said in a statement. If this is not possible in the short term, it is essential that the EU provides for an adjustment of its own legislation that damages competitiveness and exposes EU ports to the harmful effects of both businesses and employment of the relocation of carbon emissions ".

"We also need to have mitigation measures now, and not in two years ' time," Bonz said. The competitiveness of European port stakeholders cannot be put at risk because some shipping companies will rearrange their rotations to avoid staging in EU ports and paying ETS allowances. We hope that the European Commission will listen to this appeal. "

FEPORT noted that it is now also the time for the competitiveness and resilience of the maritime ecosystem to be placed at the centre of the next European Commission's strategies, which should prioritiesthe financing of the transition energy and more funds for the transport sector. In addition, the federation urged EU institutions to ensure that measures of support for a maritime logistics chain sector are not used to distort competition in other sectors or to other actors, banning aid from State that grants a competitive advantage to some actors and not to other operatives within the same market. In this regard, FEPORT again called on the EU to restrict the tonnage tax regimes applied to maritime transport and to prohibit their extension to the handling of goods.