The Valencia Port Authority warned that the European environmental tax called the Emission Trading System (ETS) would lead to a loss of competitiveness and favor ports in North Africa. Specifically, Tangier Med in Morocco and East Port Said in Egypt would record cargoes that previously arrived via Europe.
According to the Port Authority of Valencia, the measure, which will be implemented gradually this year and will come into full force in 2026, means a loss of competitiveness, a decline in transshipment business (transferring cargo from one ship to another) and CO2 leaks and diversion of ships to non-European ports (but very close to community locations).
In this sense, the Port Authority of Valencia (APV) has alerted the European Commission to the foreseeable changes in the route of ships of Asian and American origin – including a stop at a location close to Europe but not from the Community – less taxes to pay for emissions rights. “We must guarantee that there will be no CO2 leaks in connection with the reorganization of the maritime networks,” emphasizes the APV in its allegations.
Therefore, in order to create a list of ports that could be used for this purpose, Valenciaport has identified the locations to monitor. In addition, its allegations call for environmental taxes to be levied on ships that dock there. In this way, the competitiveness of European and Spanish ports would be guaranteed and the application of measures to reduce emissions would be ensured.
According to PAV, the reorganization of routes will mean a loss of competitiveness of the Community territories, which will immediately reduce the current transshipment business in favor of two ports outside the European Union: Tanger Med (Morocco) and East Port Said (Egypt). For this reason, their claims state, “the Port Authority of Valencia fully agrees with the inclusion of both provisions in Directive 2003/87/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council.”
Likewise, Valenciaport expects that the Turkish port Tekirdag Asyaport – another facility outside the EU but very close to Europe – will also become a facility in the short term, covering transshipment operations currently carried out in European ports. –
In this framework, the port authority requests the inclusion of the EU in the list of ports to be monitored since “it meets the criteria set out in the Directive by being located less than 300 nautical miles from a port subject to the jurisdiction of a Member State.” ” .
In addition, the PAV requests that consideration be given to including other ports that could be used by shipping companies for the same purpose: Ambarli, Aliaga and Mersin (Turkey); Ashdod and Haifa (Israel); and Beirut (Lebanon). And that the growth of the Damietta II (Egypt), Nador West Med (Morocco) and Cherchell (Algeria) locations is controlled.
“We understand that the EU must pay due attention to the development of other ports in the Mediterranean, as they have operational capacities that make them potential enclaves to which significant transshipment volumes could be diverted,” refers APV in its claims European Initiative ETS ( Emissions trading system), which provides for the collection of emission rights from shipping companies based on the shipping route: Longer journeys mean a higher tariff and vice versa.
