16th December 2023 – 22nd December 2023
LOCAL NEWS
1. Anniversary Dinner of the Shipping Deputy Ministry on the 60th Anniversary of the establishment of the Registry of Cyprus Ships (19/12/2023)
An official dinner to mark the 60th anniversary from the establishment of the Registry of Cyprus Ships was hosted on Tuesday 18 December 2023, by the Shipping Deputy Ministry, in the presence of the President of the Republic Nikos Christodoulides and the shipping industry. The Shipping Deputy Minister, Ms. Marina Hadjimanolis, welcomed the attendees and referred to the 60 years of continuous efforts, planning and decisions, and as she said "difficult journeys, with unpredictable and complex challenges, with the sole goal of always consolidating the prominent role of the Republic of Cyprus, through a strong sector".
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INTERNATIONAL NEWS
2. EU adopts comprehensive 12th package of sanctions against Russia
On 18 December 2023, the European Commission published the 12th package of sanctions against Russia, with the purpose of imposing additional import and export bans on Russia, combating sanctions circumvention and closing loopholes. In this respect, the following amendments have been made to the Council Regulation 833/2014:
Oil price cap application and attestation process for ancillary costs
- New article 3n para 6a is inserted requiring that “service providers with no access to the purchase price per barrel laid down in Annex XXVIII of such products shall collect itemised price information for ancillary costs as provided by operators further up the supply chain of Russian crude oil or petroleum product trade”. This requirement applies to operators loading Russian crude oil or petroleum products listed in Annex XXV as of 20 February 2024.
- Amendments to Council Decision 2014/512 require the itemised price information for ancillary costs, such as insurance and freight, to be shared by those actors with access to that information, such as traders and charterers. Recital 15 specifies that “Actors down the supply chain, such as shipowners and insurers, should be able to collect as part of their due diligence procedures”.
- New article 3na requires Member States to share information with each other to identify “vessels and entities of concern carrying out one or more deceptive practices while transporting Russian crude oil and petroleum products”.
Sale or transfer of tankers (new art. 3q)
- To Russia (ban): Art 3q para 1 prohibits EU nationals or natural persons to sell or transfer tankers for the transport of crude oil or petroleum products to any natural or legal person, entity or body in Russia or for use in Russia. Exceptions to this provision are provided in para 2 and 3.
- To third countries (notification requirements): art 3q para 4 requires EU nationals, natural or legal persons established in the EU to notify “any sale or other arrangement entailing a transfer of ownership (…) to any third country of tankers for the transport of crude oil or petroleum products listed in Annex XXV, falling under HS code ex 8901 20, with the exception of a sale or other transfer of ownership prohibited under paragraph 1” to the competent authorities of the Member State where the owner of the tanker is a citizen, a resident or is established.
- Retroactive application: it is important to note that according to Art 3q para 5 “any sale or other transfer of ownership of tankers as referred to in paragraphs 1 and 4 after 5 December 2022 and prior to 19 December 2023 shall be notified to the competent authorities before 20 February 2024”.
- Notification of sale/transfer: as per above, the notification to the competent authority shall include at least:
- the identities of the seller and the purchaser, and, where applicable, the incorporation documents of the seller and the purchaser including the shareholding and management;
- the IMO ship identification number of the tanker;
- the Call Sign of the tanker.
Pilotage services
- Article 12d is amended as follows: “The prohibitions laid down in this Regulation shall not apply to the provision of pilot services which are necessary for reasons of maritime safety” removing the reference to vessels in innocent passage.
For ease of reference, please find the current consolidated versions of Council Regulation 833/2014 (here).
In addition, please note that the list of people and entities subject to restrictive measures has been amended, with 61 persons and 86 entities added to the list (link here and here).
For the moment, no update of the Guidance document and Q&A have been made available.
Summarizing, the 12th package – key elements:
- Import ban on Russian diamonds;
- Import ban on raw materials for steel production, processed aluminium products and other metal goods;
- Stricter asset freeze obligation;
- Energy measures;
- Oil price cap;
- New import ban on liquified petroleum gas (LPG), impacting annual imports worth over €1 billion, with grandfathering of existing contracts for a period of maximum 12 months;
- New listing criterion;
- Stronger anti-curcumvention measures ;
- Broadening of the scope of the transit prohibition through Russia by adding certain economically critical goods when these are intended for export to third countries;
- Obligation for operators to contractually prohibit the re-export of certain categories of sensitive goods to Russia, including goods related to aviation, jet fuel, firearms and goods on the Common High Priority list;
- Introduction of a new measure that will require the notification of certain transfers of funds out of the EU from EU entities directly or indirectly owned by more than 40% by Russians or entities established in Russia;
- Export restrictions: additional export restrictions on dual-use and advanced technological and industrial goods worth €2.3 billion per year. In particular:
- New export controls on dual use/advanced tech;
- New export bans on EU industrial goods;
- Addition of 29 Russian and third country entities to the list of entities associated to Russia’s military-industrial complex (including entities registered in Uzbekistan and Singapore);
- Prohibition to provide enterprise and design-related software to the Russian government or Russian companies;
- Additional Measures.
Related Articles:
Attachment 1: ECSA C-13356 For information | ECSA SPC SAC | 12th package of sanctions adopted - provisions on attestation and tanker sales
Safety4Sea 19/12 - EU adopts comprehensive 12th package of sanctions against Russia
Attachment 2: TradeWinds 18/12 - EU takes aim at tanker sales for shadow fleet in new sanctions package
3. EU ETS: updated summary on the delegated and implementing acts
In about one week, the revised EU ETS and EU MRV legislation will enter into force. In this respect, an updated summary has been prepared on the delegated and implementing acts, which includes the links to the final texts published in the EU Official Journal (EUOJ). The texts which were published are now in force.
Delegated acts
- The delegated act on the rules on monitoring and reporting of shipping emissions was adopted on 12 October. The delegated act includes the reference to FuelEU Maritime when covering the possibility for companies to diverge from the default values for the emission factors listed in the table at page 3, but also when covering the possibility to use certified values. The values for e-methanol were modified in the table. This delegated act was published in the EUOJ on 14 December.
- The delegated act on the rules for reporting and submission of the aggregated emissions data at company level was adopted on 12 October. This delegated act was published in the EUOJ on 15 December.
- The delegated act on the operation of the Innovation Fund was adopted by the Commission on 15 September. This delegated act was published in the EUOJ on 20 November.
- The delegated act on the update of emission allowances auctioning rules was adopted by the Commission on 17 October. This delegated act was published in the EUOJ on 20 December.
- The delegated act on the functioning of the Union Registry was adopted on 25 October. This delegated act has not been published in the EUOJ yet.
Implementing acts
In addition, the following implementing act were published in the Official Journal and entered into force on the third day following that of their publication:
- The implementing act on the identification of neighbouring container transhipment ports was published in the official journal. East Port Said in Egypt and Tanger Med in Morocco are the two ports defined as neighbouring container transhipment ports.
- The act on templates for monitoring plans, reports & other documents for shipping emissions was published on the 7 November.
- The act on the rules for the administration of shipping companies by administering authorities under the EU Emissions Trading System was published on 23 November. The responsible entity is the shipowner. The shipowner can contractually mandate the ISM company to assume responsibility for the EU ETS obligations and to surrender the EU ETS allowances. In this case, the ISM company should provide its administering authority with information on ships under its responsibility.
Moreover, the updated FAQ on Maritime Transport in the EU ETS has been issued, addressing important questions related to the upcoming extension of the ETS to the maritime sector.
For the FAQ, please tab here.
Related Articles:
Attachment 3: ECSA C-13364 For information - EU ETS: updated summary on the delegated and implementing acts
Attachment 4: ECSA C-13366 For Information: Update of the FAQ for Maritime Transport in the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS)
4. Malaysia issues ban on Israeli ships
On Wednesday, 20 December, Malaysia’s government issued a ban on Israeli-owned and flagged ships, as well as any vessels destined for Israel, from docking at its ports. According to international news, the ban, effective immediately, is in response to Israel’s actions in the conflict with Hamas, as stated by Prime Minister, Anwar Ibrahim. Malaysian citizens are Muslim in their majority, and the state does not recognize Israel and has a history of supporting Palestinian rights.
Related Articles:
Al Jazeera 20/12 - Malaysia bans Israel-flagged ships from its ports in response to Gaza war
Safety4Sea 20/12 - Malaysia issues ban on Israeli ships
Attachment 5: TradeWinds 20/12 - Malaysia bans calls by all ships owned by or heading to Israel
5. US announces naval coalition to defend Red Sea shipping from Houthi attacks - EU announces contribution to US mission
As a result of the disruption to global trade caused by Houthi rebels attacking vessels on the western coast of Yemen, more than 100 container ships have been rerouted around southern Africa to avoid the Suez canal, with the diversion adding about 6,000 nautical miles to a typical journey from Asia to Europe.
The re-routing adds cost and time to vessel journeys and Oil prices and war risk insurance premiums have spiked as a result.
The oil company BP said it was suspending shipments through the Suez Canal, citing the “deteriorating security situation for shipping”, while other companies that transport products from Asia in vast container ships have also said they will stop sending vessels into the area.
On Tuesday, 19th December 2023, the US announced that it would try to lead a naval coalition to protect shipping in the Suez canal.
The US defence secretary said the new effort would be called Operation Prosperity Guardian and was necessary to tackle the “recent escalation in reckless Houthi attacks originating from Yemen”.
Britain said it would be among the countries participating, with other participants in the effort being Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles and Spain.
On the 20th December 2023, an agreement for enhanced EU action in the Rea Sea was reached by the EU Member States.
While no official text is available yet, High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell has announced that the EU will contribute to US-led operation Prosperity Guardian through Operation Atalanta. The only details known at this stage is that this contribution will entail information sharing and enhance presence with additional naval asset. ECSA also learnt that the Member State meeting also endorsed the non-executive task that would allow Atalanta assets to accompany merchant ships, but will confirm this information as soon as more details become available.
ECSA’s official statement can be found here.
Notable absentees to the coalition are Arab nations Egypt and Saudi Arabia, while analysts speculated that shipping would continue to be disrupted and attacks continue.
Related Articles:
Guardian 19/12 - US announces naval coalition to defend Red Sea
Guardian 20/12 - More than 100 container ships rerouted Suez Canal
Reuters 22/12 - How are red sea attacks impact shipping
Attachment 6: ECSA C-13358 For information | ECSA SPC/MSWG/CommsWG| Red Sea: EU announces contribution to US mission Prosperity Guardian
NY Times 19/12 - Red Sea Suez Canal Shipping
6. US Treasury Report
The US Treasury Report for all actions reported is hereby attached.
Related Article:
Attachment 7: US Treasury Report for week 16/12-22/12/2023
7. Piracy Report
The Piracy Report for all actions reported is hereby attached.
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Attachment 8: Worldwide Threat to Shipping (WTS) Report, for the period between 22 November – 20 December 2023
Nothing important to report from IMO, ILO and Parliament of Representatives.