16SEP2019 - NEWS - Revised Energy Taxation Directive should enable the transition to the decarbonisation of maritime transport

The European maritime industry partners – ECSA, INTERFERRY, EUDA and CLIA Europe – welcome the long awaited report on the evaluation of the Energy Taxation Directive (ETD) published by the European Commission yesterday.

They agree that this directive needs updating and may be seen as a means of enabling the transition to a carbon neutral economy.

They recognise that the current Directive is not providing equal treatment of energy supplies to the shipping industry thus hampering investments in and the uptake of cleaner technologies, such as shore side electricity, fuel cells, methanol, etc. They therefore advocate a technology neutral approach. In view of the global nature of the industry and the importance of moving to greener shipping through the use of cleaner technologies in order to ensure that environmental objectives are met, a revised EU Energy Taxation Directive should provide for a mandatory EU wide taxation exemption for all energy carriers (i.e. fuels and electricity, including shore-side). Such level playing field would help close the cost gap between Heavy Fuel Oil and alternative fuels and electricity.