From 1 January of next year, the European regulation on the Emissions Trading System, the emissions allowance trading mechanism that partially entered into force from 2024, will deploy all its effects and shipping companies are beginning to take measures.
Hapag Lloyd, for example, while summarizing the key points of the issue – gradual entry into force (40% of emissions from 2024, 70% from 2025 and 100% from 2026) and a 50% surcharge for voyages between EU ports and non-EU ports and 100% for voyages within the EU – informed its customers that it will have to adjust the corresponding surcharge “to reflect the transition towards 100% coverage of emissions” and that they should expect “the surcharge to increase by approximately 45% as a result of this regulatory update”.
The unknowns regarding freight surcharges and transport rates related to the Emissions Trading System (ETS) are at the center of shippers’ concerns, as also highlighted by the latest edition of the Business Meeting Container Italy, held a few days ago, according to the portal ‘Shipping Italy’.
According to a note from the Italian Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, “the need to safeguard the centrality of the Mediterranean in global trade routes and to decisively address the criticisms of the ETS (Emissions Trading System) applied to maritime transport” was the focus of the conversations that the Italian minister Edoardo Rixi held at the assembly of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) with his counterparts from Greece, Cyprus and Malta.
“Rixi – the note reads – reiterated the Italian position: the ETS represents a barrier to global trade and penalizes the competitiveness of European logistics and the entire maritime industry. The Mediterranean countries are therefore asking for specific measures and greater attention from the European institutions”. Rixi also held bilateral meetings with the Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Territorial Development, Shkrum Ivanivna, with the Qatari Minister of Transport, Sheikh Al Thani, and with his counterpart in the British Government, Keir Mather.
