Shipping price increase announced as EU emissions tax draws closer

Costs of transporting shipping containers between Malta and four Italian ports will rise up to €90 starting next January.

The Italian shipping company Grimaldi Euromed announced on Monday that it will raise prices to offset the new environmental shipping tax imposed by the EU.

The transport of shipping containers between Malta and the ports of Catania, Salerno, Livorno and Genoa will all be affected by the increase. Each route is subject to different increases.

Price increases announced by Grimaldi Euromed

The increases stem from the EU’s Emissions Trading System being extended to include shipping next year. As part of the scheme, carriers will be required to acquire 'allowances' to compensate for their carbon emissions while traveling to EU ports.

In a letter to logistics and transport companies, Grimaldi stated it was obliged to apply the new surcharge clause, with the costs being updated every three months.

Between January and March, the cost of shipping a container from Malta to its nearest Italian port, Catania, is expected to increase by €25 to €50. Similarly, transportation between Malta and Salerno will see an increase of €40 to €80 during the same period.

Shipments between Malta and Livorno or Genoa—both situated farther north along Italy's western coast—will experience an added expense ranging from €46 to €92.

The costs were determined by converting standard shipping container lengths of 20 ft and 40 ft into meters and then multiplying these measurements by the quoted cost per meter provided by Grimaldi.

In a post on Facebook, Nationalist MEP Peter Agius slammed Malta’s authorities in how they were negotiating the ETS, saying the added costs had an increased impact due to Malta’s insularity.