Interferry, the international association representing the the ferry sector, urged the European Union to suspend with immediate effect the next step of the extension to the segment of the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) ferries, the emissions trading system which has been extended maritime sector with effect from 1 January 2024 and based on the which for the sub-fund is expected to be paid in 2025 of the 40% of emissions produced in 2024, the payment in 2026 of 70% of emissions in 2025 and the payment from 2027 onwards of 100% of emissions generated from 2026. Interferry calls for the obligation to surrender maritime emissions to be frozen at 70% scheduled for 2025 and the increase is blocked expected to be 100% from 2026.

The association specified that its request "makes following the recent decision to continue to exempt transport by a parallel ETS mechanism and the lack of a clear regulation on the distribution of the funds raised". "This implementation - explained the CEO of Interferry, Mike Corrigan - must remain in force as long as road transport will also not be included in the ETS and the funds raised will not actually be allocated to the maritime decarbonization. The EU - Corrigan highlighted - must delivering on the promise of a level playing field and ensuring that its climate policy supports, rather than exhausts, financially, its most important transport sector innovative".

Interferry has stressed that ferries are of fundamental importance importance for Europe, holding more than half of the worldwide gross tonnage of ro-ro and passenger ships operating in European waters, transporting 400 million tonnes of passengers and 200 million vehicles and loading units within the EU, resulting in significant relief of the road network. The association highlighted that every euro of increase in transport fares on ferries risks causing Returning goods to the already congested road networks European Championships.

Interferry recalled that it had given its support to the process of decarbonisation of the maritime sector and to have accepted the EU ETS with the clear understanding that the EU ETS collected would actually be used for the decarbonization and that road transport would soon be included in the Emissions Trading System, while recently the Council of the EU decided to postpone the inclusion of the of road transport ( of 10 December 2025), raising significant concerns in the industry of short-sea shipping on why users maritime transport communities, such as islands, have to bear the full cost of the ETS. "This exemption of road transport from the EU ETS - denounced Johan Roos, Director of Regulatory Affairs at Interferry - creates a immediate and serious competitive disadvantage for ro-ro ferries and passengers. At present, the ETS creates a negative incentive, pushing goods and passengers to return to the road networks already due to higher ferry costs. This is in direct contrast to the EU's long-standing policy of modal shift from the road to the sea".

In addition, Interferry recalled that last October the IMO postponed for at least 12 months the adoption of a comprehensive mechanism for the greenhouse gas pricing, a framework that should have replaced EU ETS and would have established clear guidelines for the use of the of the funds raised ( of 17 October 2025), while in the meantime the members of Interferry operating to and from EU ports are taxed for their CO2 emissions without a clear provision on how money is reinvested to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and without certainty about when it will come into force, if it will ever come into force in force, a global regulation of the IMO. "The EU ETS - noted Roos - is taxing the transport on intra-EU ferries of about one billion euros a year, while we need support for the production of e-fuels and huge investments electrification of EU ports for the benefit of charging of electrically propelled vessels. Instead, the vast majority most of this revenue is diverted to budgets Member States. This approach does not promote or competitiveness and cohesion and hampers the capacity of of the sector to invest in cleaner technologies".