Ship Recycling Levy to Undermine Competitiveness of EU Ports
Ship recycling levy would lead to an unwanted increase in port dues in EU ports of 25% Several Members of the European Parliament are considering to table a compromise amendment on the draft ship recycling Regulation in order to establish a funding mechanism that would ensure the conscious recycling of ships.The fund would be financed through a tonnage-based levy, which port authorities should charge on all ships calling at EU ports, irrespective of their flag. The ship recycling levy would lead to an unwanted increase in port dues in EU ports of 25% on average. In some ports the amendment would even lead to a doubling of the level of dues.The initial proposal of rapporteur Carl Schlyter (Greens EFA / Sweden - photo) introduced a levy of 0.03 Euro per gross tonne (GT). An impact assessment of the proposal took into account ESPO's findings that port dues would significantly increase, but came to the remarkable conclusion that there would be no risk of traffic evasion, since port dues only constitute a minor part of the total cost of a ship's voyage. The impact assessment even recommended to increase the levy to 0.05 Euro, which the compromise amendment now indeed proposes."We ...
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