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During this week's Transport Council meeting, Ministers discussed the implications of extending the Emissions Trading System (ETS) to maritime transport. This initiative, led by Spain, was supported by eight Member States who co-signed the published note, calling on the Commission to take action against the risk of traffic diversion from EU ports to non-EU ports, undermining the competitiveness of the EU maritime sector.

The note proposes to incorporate a risk assessment in the monitoring mechanism included in the EU ETS and to immediately start the review process of the Directive by proposing contingency measures in case of route deviations and strengthen the EU efforts for global and ambitious solutions at IMO level. The Commission noted that it was too early to draw any conclusions on the potential adverse effects of ETS on maritime transport but highlighted that the first report of their monitoring exercise would be published by the end of this year. In parallel, it was announced that a maritime task force, led by Cyprus and Greece would be launched early July in the framework of the EU ETS Compliance Forum.

CLECAT continues to call for attention for the unintended consequences of the ETS for maritime transport, and most notably on the issue of the ETS surcharges imposed by carriers. These surcharges should be calculated in a fair and transparent manner and should only reflect the additional costs incurred by the ETS system.