A dozen countries, including Spain, have been alerting the European Commission for months that the environmental rules that the EU put in place to reduce emissions from maritime traffic threaten European ports. And the bill is billions of euros for the diversion of commercial ships to ports in third countries that have more lax regulations. Six months after putting the matter on the table, they do it again and give a slap on the wrist to the European Commission, which they consider has made a “factual” analysis of the situation, but not “predictive.”
“The risks of carbon leakage and business being diverted from European transport hubs to those in the EU neighborhood appear to be starting to materialize and will cause short-term costs to EU companies that their competitors will not have to bear. EU port competitiveness, EU connectivity and the EU-based logistics chain are at risk. Furthermore, losing control of the logistics chain could also increase the risk of illegal activities and shipments,” warns the document that will be discussed at the meeting of Transport Ministers this Thursday in Brussels.
The problem lies in the inclusion of fees as a result of the review of the emissions trading scheme (ETS) for ships arriving at European ports from third countries based on the weight of their cargo and the kilometers traveled. What the governments that are putting pressure on in Brussels, including the Spanish one, maintain is that the model is threatening the large European port hubs by diverting these vessels to neighboring competitors.
Vessels covering routes within the EU pay 100% of the CO2 emitted, according to the market price projected by the Emissions Trading System (ETS), and those arriving in the EU from other jurisdictions pay 50%. . The fear of port countries is that operations will be transferred to neighboring countries. In the case of Spain, the Government is concerned that they will end up in Algeria, Morocco or the United Kingdom. What government sources explain is that the European Commission has not detected the decrease in maritime traffic given that the flows have varied due to the crisis in the Red Sea and have diverted a part to European ports, but without that situation, they say, there would have been noticeably.
“We continue to believe that there is a clear need for corrective interventions on the emissions trading scheme (ETS). Action must be taken right now. If the European Commission’s decision is delayed, it will be too late. The diversion of traffic will be a fact, and our port and logistics sector will find itself at a point of no return,” states the document to which elDiario.es has had access in which Spain and a dozen other countries call on Brussels to take measures. , although a solution is being sought at an international level. In fact, he also warns that there may come a time when there will be a “double payment” if global measures are adopted and European measures are maintained.
Spain has suggested to the EU Transport Council in previous meetings that the CO2 tax be applied to containers and not to ships to prevent large ships from being diverted to neighboring ports and cargo reaching Spaniards in larger vessels. small ones that only pay the rate for the kilometers traveled, which are only 17 from North Africa.
The document that the 27 have on the table, also coinciding with the premiere of the new European Commission, includes some proposals to “avoid carbon leakage and the loss of competitiveness”, among them reviewing the directive and working on a Plan Contingency “to identify measures and allow immediate action if the foreseen risks” regarding the diversion of maritime traffic “come true.”
Among the measures, it also proposes “a risk assessment based on predictive criteria in the monitoring mechanism” of the system “to identify possible deviations from maritime transport routes” that is updated continuously and included in the list of ports not belonging to the European Economic Area others “with the same risk potential based on their present and future development, their increased traffic, their financing related to the green maritime transport corridors initiative and private investments.”
Spanish diplomatic sources emphasize the need to reiterate “concern” about the matter. “Many predictive elements are missing so that we can analyze the measures we can take,” these sources reproach about the work that the European Commission has prepared so far. In previous meetings, ten European countries (all those in the Mediterranean, France, Slovenia, Lithuania and Poland) have joined forces to raise awareness of the problem.
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