Following Assarmatori’s mission in Brussels, an inter-institutional provisional agreement between the EU Council and the European Parliament has been reached on the proposed “FuelEU Maritime” regulation. In this context, Assarmatori confirms that its main requests have been accepted, especially in regard to the specific measures aimed at protecting the territorial continuity from the inevitable increases in the cost of transport deriving from the new regulation.
“This is a crucial step forward for Italy – argues the President of Assarmatori Stefano Messina – as it is a Country characterized by a strong insularity and, as such, owns the largest ro-ro/pax fleet in the world. It is also an important diplomatic success of Italy thanks to the collaboration between the Government, the Permanent Representation of Italy to the EU, the Regions of Sardinia and Sicily and all the Italian MEPs, starting with rapporteur of the provision Marco Campomenosi”.
The compromise agreement contains other positive elements: first of all, consistency between the OPS obligations under the FuelEU Maritime and those of the Alternative Fuel Infrastructure Regulation (AFIR) have been ensured by limiting from 2030 the obligation to use Cold-ironing for container and passenger ships only in large ports of the EU TEN-T network and only from 2035 to the rest of European ports if OPS technology is available. Furthermore, exemptions from the obligation to use cold ironing have been granted in the event of: unavailability of the electricity grid, stops in port of less than two hours, ships at berth, port calls due to unforeseen events or emergency. Secondly, the revenues generated from the FuelEU penalties will be allocated to projects aimed at supporting the decarbonisation of the maritime sector with an enhanced transparency mechanism.
“Although the compromise agreement accepts some provisions relating to fuel suppliers – concludes Messina – more needs to be done to guarantee the effective availability of new fuels on the market at low prices, in order not to unjustly penalize the shipowner.
