2nd December 2023 – 8th December 2023
- LOCAL NEWS
Nothing to report.
- INTERNATIONAL NEWS
1. IMO Council Election of Chair / Appointment of the Secretary-General
On the 7th of December 2023, the newly elected 40-Member IMO Council met (for the Council's 131st session) and re-elected its Chair, Mr. Victor Jiménez (Spain) and Vice-Chair Mrs. Amane Fethallah (Morocco). Furthermore, the Assembly approved the appointment of Mr. Arsenio Antonio Dominguez Velasco (Republic of Panama) as IMO Secretary-General, for an initial four-year term starting on 1 January 2024.
Related Articles:
IMO 08/12 - IMO Assembly adopts budget, strategic plan
Marine Regulations 08/12 - Report from the IMO Assembly: Resolutions, strategic plan, budget
2. EU ETS: Council of Transport Ministers’ Discussions
On the 4th of December 2023, the Council of Transport Ministers discussed the implementation of the EU ETS for shipping as an “any other business” item.
This exchange followed a letter from the Croatian, Cyprus, Greek, Italian, Maltese, Spanish and Portuguese Ministers to the Commission calling for measures to be taken to avoid traffic diversion to ports located near the EU. During this meeting, the seven co-signatory Member States stated that immediate measures should be taken to address traffic diversion from Mediterranean ports. Another five Member States supported the implementation of the EU ETS as planned as from 1st January 2024.
The Commissioner for Transport concluded by saying that the Commission will carefully monitor the effects of the EU ETS in the future. If there is a diversion of traffic to ports located near the EU, the Commission will extend the list of neighbouring container transhipment ports.
The extension of the list would in practice mean that the scope of the EU ETS would be likely broadened for container vessels calling at EU ports.
Background
The EU ETS provides for an exclusion from the definition of “port of call” of stops of containerships in a container transhipment port located less than 300 nautical miles from a port under the jurisdiction of a Member State. The port’s share of transhipment of containers must exceed 65 % of the total container traffic of that port during the most recent twelve-month period for which relevant data are available. East Port Said in Egypt and Tanger Med in Morocco are defined as neighbouring container transhipment ports in the corresponding implementing act, which was published in the official journal on 27 October 2023 and entered into force on 20 November (ref: C-13265 of 02-11-23).
In practice, it means that a stop of a container vessel in East Port Said in Egypt or Tanger Med in Morocco on its way from Europe to Asia will not be counted as a port of call. Allowances for half of the emissions from Europe to Asia will have to be surrendered.
Related Article:
Attachment 1:ECSA C-13324 For information - EU ETS: discussions during yesterday's Council of Transport Ministers
3. US TREASURY REPORT
The US Treasury Report for all actions reported is hereby attached.
Related Article:
Attachment 3: US Treasury Report for week 2/12-8/12/2023
4. PIRACY REPORT
The Piracy Report for all actions reported is hereby attached.
Related Article:
Attachment 4: Worldwide Threat to Shipping (WTS) Report, for the period between 8 November – 6 December 2023
Nothing important to report from ILO, Local News and Parliament of Representatives.