Posted on June 1, 2026
The European Sea Ports Organisation (ESPO) has in a recent statement called on the European Commission to address the unintended consequences of the extension of the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) to the maritime sector, ahead of the upcoming revision of Directive 2003/87/EC. Ever since the maritime emissions trading system entered into force in January 2024, the EU’s ports have repeatedly warned that the framework’s regional scope risks creating both carbon leakage and business leakage.
Under the current System, voyages between EU ports are subject to a 100% ETS charge, whereas incoming and outgoing voyages between EU and non-EU ports are covered at 50%. According to ESPO, these rules are already leading to shifts in shipping patterns and port calls, particularly in major Mediterranean transshipment hubs, but increasingly also in other parts of the EU and its neighbourhood. ESPO Secretary General Isabelle Ryckbost stresses that the current framework risks undermining the EU’s broader strategic objectives, including decarbonisation, energy security and geo-economic resilience, as well as military preparedness.
The organisation also highlighted the framework’s negative impact on short sea shipping, noting signs of modal backshift from maritime to road transport in certain regions. ESPO argued that this runs counter to longstanding EU objectives aimed at promoting maritime transport through initiatives such as the Motorways of the Sea.
In its submission to the European Commission’s review of the EU ETS, ESPO calls to prioritise the achievement of a global agreement and a subsequent alignment of the EU’s own System. Pending such an agreement, ESPO advocates several targeted adjustments, including the removal of the 65% transshipment threshold for neighbouring container ports excluded from the definition of a port of call. It further requests a greater consideration of impacts on outermost regions as well as a substantially larger reinvestment of ETS revenues into the maritime and port sector and expresses its opposition to further broadening of the scope of vessels affected.
CLECAT supports ESPO’s concerns regarding the growing risk of carbon and business leakage, as well as the distortion of competition between EU ports and those within her neighbourhood.
