FEPORT, the European federation representing the operators of port terminals, calls on the European Parliament to strengthen the measures envisaged in the revision of the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) to prevent the application of the system to transport maritime sector, in place since 1 January 2024, promotes the transfer of the activities and traffic volumes of transhipment to ports located outside the European Union. The request comes on the eve of the discussion at the Environment Committee (ENVI) of the European Parliament , planned for tomorrow, the report by MEP Peter Liese on the revision of the ETS. According to FEPORT, the report recognises the implications of the review for the competitiveness of European companies and contains useful proposals to reconcile competitiveness and climate objectives, but needs some changes aimed at safeguarding terminal operators as well.

The fear of the association, in fact, is that the differences in the application of carbon pricing can lead to shipping companies to change their shipping routes, avoiding European ports used for transhipment and by transferring these activities to ports in third countries. A such a phenomenon, FEPORT argues, could cause not only a loss of traffic, employment and economic activities in European ports, but also carbon leakage and a reduction in ETS revenues.

One of the main interventions requested by the federation of concerns the measure proposed by the European Commission to combat circumvention through the transfer of transhipment. The proposal provides, in Article 12.3-g, for a mechanism based on the cargo carried, which applies a discount to ships according to the share of containers destined for non-EU countries on board. According to FEPORT, however, the provision has two limitations: it applies only to routes in entry into the EU and ships with a capacity equal to or greater than 10,000 TEU.

FEPORT therefore proposes to extend the mechanism outbound route and capacity vessels between 5,000 and 10,000 TEUs, with the aim of preventing companies can circumvent the measure by changing the route affected or using vessels below the threshold envisaged. The federation considers that such an extension It would also create a more level playing field between ships of different capacities.

Expressing support for the objective of the proposal of the European Commission and the Liese report to allocate a part of the of revenues generated by the maritime ETS to the decarbonisation of the maritime transport, FEPORT believes, however, that the funds should also be accessible to port operators, Especially when making investments in electrification terminal activities or for the supply of shore electricity to ships parked in ports. For the financial support for decarbonisation is not should therefore focus exclusively on ships and production of low-emission fuels, but also include the necessary infrastructure in ports to allow ships to use them or reduce emissions while parked.

In addition, FEPORT calls for support for the production of maritime fuels actually result in an increase in bunkering activities in European ports, so as to also strengthen the competitiveness of the port system of the EU.

The third request of the federation concerns the so-called climate diplomacy. FEPORT expresses support for the efforts of the European Commission to incentivise third countries to adopt their own carbon pricing systems for the maritime sector, including through mechanism called "ETS as a service", but considers whereas the use of ETS revenues could also become a instrument of this policy. FEPORT therefore proposes to establish that funding from ETS revenues can be to ports of third countries only when they are located in the in jurisdictions that apply a system of equivalent to the EU ETS. The rationale set out in the federation is to prevent the resources generated by the European system can indirectly contribute to strengthening the competitiveness of ports located in countries that do not apply a similar cost on emissions.