{"id":93768,"date":"2026-02-18T20:15:44","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T23:15:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shipping.einnews.com\/article\/893539290"},"modified":"2026-02-18T20:15:44","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T23:15:44","slug":"meps-government-urges-eu-to-amend-disproportionate-shipping-surcharge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/2026\/02\/18\/meps-government-urges-eu-to-amend-disproportionate-shipping-surcharge\/","title":{"rendered":"MEPs, government urges EU to amend ‘disproportionate’ shipping surcharge"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Maltese MEPs and the government have warned the European Union that Malta is facing ‘disproportionate’ costs under an EU-wide shipping surcharge, and called for amendments to the policy.<\/p>\n

The warning refers to the EU\u2019s Emissions Trading System (ETS), which came into full force in 2026 and imposes a surcharge on imports and exports.<\/p>\n

The appeal was made during a conference organised on Wednesday by ATTO, the association representing Malta\u2019s international trailer operators.<\/p>\n

The association has long criticised ETS<\/a>. It calculated that local operators making a round trip to Genoa must pay an additional \u20ac734.40 to cover ETS costs for a return journey. Overall, ATTO estimates that ETS will cost local operators around \u20ac16.5 million a year. <\/p>\n

Speaking at the conference, Transport Minister Chris Bonett said that while decarbonisation is important, it should not come at the expense of operators or consumers. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis will ultimately fall on the consumer to pay the price. Malta has always been very vocal about how this policy should be applied,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Bonett explained that ETS makes Europe the only continent to charge shipments for greenhouse gas emissions, which could result in Southern European countries losing business to North African competitors. <\/p>\n

\u201cImagine a ship travelling to the United States, coming from India and stopping in Malta. Now it may opt to stop in Egypt instead,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Bonett added that Italy, Cyprus, and Greece share Malta\u2019s concerns, and Spain also appears to be moving in the same direction.<\/p>\n

MEPs want islands to pay less<\/h3>\n

Ahead of the European Commission\u2019s planned discussion on revising the ETS in July, PN MEP Peter Agius and PL MEP Thomas Bajada, together with other MEPs from Italy and Cyprus, signed a letter urging the Commission to include an \u201cisland clause.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSystemic and general safeguards on the needs of islands, so they are not put under disproportionate pressure when it comes to ETS,\u201d Agius explained via a video message streamed at the conference. <\/p>\n

The letter asked the Commission to reduce ETS-related surcharges for air and maritime connectivity to island populations. <\/p>\n

PL MEP Daniel Attard, present at the conference, also urged the Commission to amend ETS to better cater to islands.<\/p>\n

Attard revealed that in January, following a parliamentary question, the Commission informed him that it plans to \u201cwithdraw\u201d draft laws intended to amend the Combined Transport Directive. <\/p>\n

The Combined Transport Directive, implemented in 1992, provides incentives for lower-emission transport modes, primarily rail, inland waterways, and short-distance shipping. Malta\u2019s longer sea journeys, which are central to its connectivity with Europe, are largely excluded. <\/p>\n

The draft laws published in 2023 offered an opportunity to include Malta\u2019s maritime leg, Attard told Times of Malta<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn line with the interinstitutional agreement on better law-making, both the European Parliament and the Council can express their views on this intention. The Commission will then carefully consider these views before deciding on the next steps,\u201d the Commission told Attard.<\/p>\n

Attard said he presented the response to the parliamentary Committee on Transport and Tourism (TRAN), which he is part of, and the committee informed the Commission that parliament does not agree with withdrawing the draft laws.<\/p>\n

In response, Bonett said the government is \u201cvery disappointed\u201d to hear that the Commission is considering withdrawing an amendment to the directive. <\/p>\n

\u201cFor now, the government has written an official letter to the Commissioner asking not to discard it, as this would send the wrong message,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

He suggested that opposition may be coming from landlocked nations that do not rely on maritime transport. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe plan to raise this item on the agenda at the next Transport Ministers\u2019 Council,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n

The Malta Business Bureau (MBB)<\/a> has previously expressed its disappointment over the commission\u2019s decision not to revise the directive. <\/p>\n

<\/section>\n

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… ; costs under an EU-wide shipping<\/span> surcharge, and called for amendments … , inland waterways, and short-distance shipping<\/span>. Malta\u00e2\u0080\u0099s longer sea journeys …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-93768","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93768","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93768"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93768\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}