Maersk informs of EU ETS Directive & Implementation effective as of 1 January, 2024

As of 1 January 2024, shipping will be included into the EU ETS, which sets an annual absolute limit on emissions of certain greenhouse gases (GHG) and requires the purchase of allowances for emissions. Therefore, the inclusion of shipping in the EU ETS puts a price on GHG emissions.

The additional cost incurred to comply with the EU ETS directive will be applied to bookings under the EU ETS scope as a standalone surcharge, known as ‘Emissions surcharge’, defined on trade basis. Only bookings where the Load Port and/or Discharge Port of the ocean journey is located in the EU/EEA (European Economic Area) countries in EU ETS scope will be charged with the emissions surcharge.

Example: For a Cargo moving from Country of Receipt as Malaysia to Country of Delivery as Switzerland:

• If the Discharge Port (Ocean) of the Booking is Netherland (EU/EEA Country), we will apply emissions surcharge.
• If the Discharge Port (Ocean) of the Booking is Turkey (Non EU/EEA country), we will not apply emissions surcharge.

For bookings under contracts with validity more than 31 days, surcharge codes will be presented on invoices as “EMS”, while for Spot bookings and Contracts with validity less than or equal to 31 days the surcharge will be presented as “ESS” (Emission Surcharge for Spot and Contracts with validity equal to or less than 1 month). Emission surcharge will be applied on top of the contracted rates. Emission surcharge will be updated every quarter based on latest EUA price. To ensure that invoices are processed correctly and all payments are settled on time, we ask for your collaboration in updating your invoice registration systems to reflect the new surcharge.

For all bookings from China (Hongkong/Taiwan not included), we will add the EU ETS cost (emissions surcharge) to base freight rate instead of an additional surcharge for regulatory reasons. Base freight rate will be adjusted quarterly (increase/decrease) to reflect quarterly updated EU ETS cost (emissions surcharge).

For all bookings into & from Djibouti and Ethiopia, exceptional pay terms will apply due to regulatory reasons. EMS/ESS surcharge for imports into Djibouti and Ethiopia will be on prepaid basis. EMS/ESS surcharge for exports from Djibouti and Ethiopia will be on collect basis.