EU ETS Strategies: ‘Pooling’ Ships Emerges As A Cost-Saving Solution

• As the EU ETS standards set in, classification society Lloyd’s Register (LR) has released a report illustrating some of the ways shipowners might try to play the system in the coming years.
• Shippers face higher costs for operating within European waters, as transhipment facilities in the Mediterranean face being undercut by non-EU competitors – Egypt’s Port Said and Morocco’s Tangier Med, for example, not being bound by the same rules.

The new report shows that the differences between transhipment operations outside and inside the EU are stark. A statement from the Medcenter Container terminal at the Italian port of Gioia Tauro said: “Shipping companies that choose North African ports for transhipment services will achieve substantial savings… the economic difference between an operation via Gioia Tauro and Port Said or Tanger can amount to around €700m per year.”

The Practice of ‘Pooling’ for Regulatory Advantage

Alberto Perez, LR global head of maritime commercial markets, said he expected some charterers to stop trading in Europe, “as a result of the extra cost and uncertainty.” LR emphasized that the practice of ‘pooling’ would allow for a relatively small number of new fleet additions to have a disproportionately favorable impact, from a regulatory point of view, without requiring large numbers of non-compliant vessels to be replaced with their equivalent in low-emission ships.

The European Commission this week confirmed it would be targeting a 90% decrease in greenhouse gas emissions by 2040, compared with 1990 levels, as well as an intermediate target of 55% reduction by 2030.

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Source: The Loadstar