Saturday, June 28, 2025
Home Most Popular Sea-Intelligence reports major misalignments on ocean carrier carbon taxation

Sea-Intelligence reports major misalignments on ocean carrier carbon taxation

As we are around three months away from the implementation of carbon taxation (ETS) in the European Union (EU) and everyone agrees that this will be a high cost, there is significant uncertainty as to the precise cost.

Presently, only two carriers, Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd, have in recent weeks announced indications of these coming surcharges.

“There are many methodological problems in how to calculate the cost of ETS per container, given how the EU regulators have deemed to define the ETS, and because of challenges on how to allocate that at a per-TEU level,” say Sea-Intelligence analysts adding that “carriers are by law prevented from agreeing on a common surcharge formula, which will result in misalignment between carriers.”

The new data presented by the two European carrier powerhouses are only preliminary indications, as they will only file firm data a month prior to implementation.

“On top of that, the emissions made in 2024 will have to be accounted and paid for in September 2025. Yet to cover the cost in September 2025, the carrier will have to charge a premium, with no knowledge as to what the actual cost will be in September 2025,” explains Alan Murphy, CEO of Sea-Intelligence, a Danish maritime data analysis firm.

Source: Sea-Intelligence.com, Sunday Spotlight, issue 634

“It is no surprise that there are very large differences in the ETS surcharge across the two carriers,” pointed out Murphy, who went on to add that “even by looking at their relative levels, there is no pattern emerging, as for the North Europe trade, even on a roundtrip basis, Hapag-Lloyd is indicating an ETS surcharge quite a bit lower than Maersk, whereas for the Mediterranean trade, it is the reverse.”

Murphy said, “We are in no way bashing the two carriers; they should be lauded for at least providing the beginning of cost transparency of the ETS. What it illustrates is that it will be incredibly difficult for shippers to get a good overview of this upcoming ETS cost.”





Latest Posts

Sea-Intelligence: Port Power Rankings

 Sea-Intelligence analyses port performance in terms of schedule reliability, across the 202 deep-sea ports with the largest number of container vessel calls, by creating...

Suez slowdown reshapes Red Sea’s port map

The macro picture of the Red Sea is worsen as canal transits are at half-mast, and the region has relinquished its role as the...

We asked AI: When containers become pools

We asked AI what a container might look like if it was trasformed into a pool. The result? Long steel containers, many of them stacked,...

Transpacific crash may normalise charter market

Containership charter rates, which have defied the freight slump for some time, could be peaking, as some small ships chartered by opportunistic operators for...

Shipping alliances carriers and MSC control over 80% of market

As the container shipping industry continues its transformation, strategic cooperation among carriers remains a key force shaping global trade. According to updated Alphaliner data,...
error: Content is protected !!