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According to the Turkish Minister of Transport, the volume of containers handled in Türkiye rose to 1.2 million TEU in January–May 2024, an increase of 54% year-on-year.
Some 28% of the total transhipment volume – 340,000 TEU – came from the European Union. It has raised concerns that some carriers may be transhipping goods through Türkiye to avoid paying EU carbon taxes.
As transhipment increases at Turkish ports, calls to improve the EU environmental regulations are growing. The updated ETS system adopted by the European Commission last year allows select third-country transhipment ports to be included in the European carbon tax mechanism. However, some ports, including ports in Türkiye, are not on the list.
The Turkish Parliament has recently approved amendments to the Ports Act that will allow the country to tax emissions generated by maritime transport. The Government plans to establish an emissions trading system, which will be harmonised with the EU mechanism for adjusting border prices taking into account CO2 emissions and the carbon dioxide emission quota market.
The Act was published in the Journal of Laws on 9 July but there are still no regulations containing guidelines on the types of ships to be covered by the new regulations, as well as the tonnage, emission fees, and the procedures for monitoring, reporting, and verifying emissions from ships.
Source: trans.info