Maritime transport is gradually joining the emissions trading system. That's why the additional fees may still rise in the future, the companies are estimated.
Travel tickets from the beginning of this year, the consumer buying a ship has been able to notice that the price of the tickets is said to include or add a climate fee, an emission surcharge or an additional fee for the letter and word monster EU ETS emissions trading system.
Behind the payment that increases ticket prices is the joining of maritime transport as part of the European Union's emissions trading system, where companies must buy emission rights for every ton of carbon dioxide they produce.
So far, the additional fees added to the ticket prices are in the order of a few euros. With the fees, shipping companies try to cover the costs they incur from the emissions trading system. However, the fees may increase in the coming years, the shipping companies tell STT. The reason for this is, among other things, the fluctuation of the market prices of emission rights.
On Eckerö Line trips between Helsinki and Tallinn, the fee is one euro per passenger. The fee is an average estimate, as there is still no certainty as to how much emission rights will actually cost the company, CEO Taru Keronen says.
“Emission rights are paid to the authorities twice a year. At the end of June, we will calculate what the first half of the year cost,” Keronen tells STT.
CEO of Tallink Silja by Margus Schultz according to the company, it is not intended to make a profit with additional fees.
“We treat this a bit like a tax,” he says.
Information director Johanna Boijer-SvahnströmOn the other hand, Viking Line tells STT by email that the price of the surcharge is linked to the development of costs and is checked at regular intervals.
Shipping companies according to the emission surcharge, the higher the trip causes emissions. Among other things, the length of the journey and the speed of the ship affect the amount of emissions: the longer the journey and the faster the ship, the more fuel is consumed and emissions are caused.
With the emission surcharges, for example, a cruise to Sweden for two adults and two school-age children will cost around 7–24 euros, depending on the shipping company.
On Tallink Silja's cruises, emission surcharges on ships cruising from Finland to Tallinn and Stockholm are 1.8–3.8 euros per passenger. Starting at the beginning of the year, Eckerö Line's ticket prices for trips between Helsinki and Tallinn all include an emission surcharge of one euro per passenger.
Increases on Viking Line are 2–6 euros. Wasaline running between Umeå and Vaasa in Sweden tells joining the emissions trading system increases the price of a day cruise or a one-way trip by two euros for an adult and one euro for a child aged 6–17.
You have to travel with Finnlines from Helsinki to Travemünde in Germany to pout six euros more than before. On the journey between Naantali and Kapellskär, Sweden, the price has been increased by 0.50 euros.
No additional price is collected from children under 6 in any shipping company. Vehicles and freight have their own additional charges.
Maritime transport gradually joins emissions trading.
This year, shipping companies will buy emission rights for 40 percent of their total emissions. Next year, the share will rise to 70 percent. In 2026, it will be 100 percent, which means shipping companies will have to buy emission rights from the market corresponding to all their emissions.
Will travel prices rise as a result of this in the coming years?
“Of course, it depends on how our company's emissions and the market price of emission rights develop. However, we could have guessed that the emission rights we pay will become more expensive when we absolutely have to buy more of them,” says Keronen from Eckerö Line.
On the other hand, the amount of emissions produced by the company can also change. That is why Keronen estimates that in the long term the emission surcharge will be floating, i.e. fluctuating.
Tallink Siljan Schults says the same. He says that the prices of emission surcharges will be recalculated when the shipping companies' obligation to buy emission rights increases next year. According to Viking Line's Boijer-Svahnström, the surcharges may well increase as the emissions trading is gradually joined.
“The increase in the price of emission rights is reflected in consumer prices in the market,” he writes.
For shipping companies joining the emissions trading system will cause millions of euros in additional costs this year.
For Tallink Silja, the figure is estimated to be 10–20 million, for Eckerö Line about ten million, and for Viking Line “millions of euros”. However, estimating additional costs is difficult because the market prices of emission rights are alive.
According to Tallink Silja's Margus Schults, what makes it difficult for shipping companies is that the price of emission rights depends on political decisions and prices can change very quickly.
“Then it is terribly difficult to make long-term investment decisions. We think it would be better if the emission supplement were tax-style, in which case it would be easier to predict,” he says.
Globally, shipping emissions were the EU's by in 2018, just under three percent of all emissions caused by human activity. At the EU level, shipping emissions account for approximately 3–4 percent of all emissions.
Although the share is quite small so far, emissions predicted to grow by up to 130 percent from the 2008 level by 2050.
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