Interferry demands pause to EU ETS implementation at 70% coverage

The demand follows the recent decision to continue exempting road transport from a parallel ETS mechanism, and a lack of clear regulations on the distribution of the funds collected, Interferry said.

“This action must remain in place until road transport is also in an ETS and funds collected are actually ringfenced for maritime decarbonisation. The EU must deliver on its promise of a level playing field and ensure its climate policy supports, rather than financially drains, its most forward-looking transport sector,” said Interferry chief executive Mike Corrigan.

More than half of the world’s gross roro- and passenger ship tonnage operates in European waters, transporting 400M passengers and 200M vehicles and freight units every year within the EU, stated Interferry, significantly offloading the road network. It added, “Every euro of freight rate increase on ferries risks pushing freight volumes back to the already congested European road networks.”

Interferry said it supports decarbonising the maritime industry and accepted the EU ETS on the “clear understanding that funds collected would actually be used for decarbonisation and that road transport would also soon be included”.

The statement added, “The EU Council recently decided to postpone the inclusion of road transport – raising significant concerns in the shortsea shipping sector as to why end users of maritime transports, eg island communities, have to carry the full costs of ETS.”

“This exemption of road transport from the EU ETS creates an immediate, severe competitive disadvantage for roro and passenger ferries,” said Interferry director regulatory affairs Johan Roos. “As it stands now, ETS creates an adverse incentive, pushing goods and passengers back onto already congested road networks due to higher ferry costs. This directly contradicts the long-standing EU policy of modal shift from road to sea.”

In October 2025, IMO postponed the adoption of a global greenhouse gas pricing mechanism for at least 12 months – a framework that was intended to replace the EU ETS and would have set clear guidelines for the use of the funds collected. Meanwhile, Interferry members operating to and from EU ports are taxed for their CO2 emissions without a clear provision on how the money is reinvested to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, and without certainty when a global IMO regulation will come into force – if at all.

“The EU ETS is taxing intra-EU ferry transport by approximately €1.0Bn (US$1.2Bn) per year, while we need support for the production of e-fuels and substantial investments in the electrification of EU ports for the benefit of charging electric-propulsion ships. Instead, the vast majority of these revenues are being diverted to national member state budgets. This approach neither promotes competitivity nor cohesion and hinders the industry’s ability to invest in cleaner technologies,” added Mr Roos.