South Korea’s HMM has revealed a series of extra container charges to meet the cost of the European Union’s emissions trading rules.
Its Europe emission surcharge will come into force from 1 January as shipping enters the EU Emissions Trading System.
The cost of obtaining an EU Allowance (EUA) credit is “expected to be significant”, HMM said.
The surcharge will help the company provide a “stable and sustainable service” to clients.
The biggest fee comes in Europe to North America trades, with an extra €62 ($68) for a live reefer container and €41 per dry teu.
The lowest surcharge is for intra-European voyages at €6 per teu, or €9 for a live reefer container.
The company said that instead of the transatlantic area, it expects the trade lane between Asia and Europe to be the most significant route heavily impacted by the EU ETS.
“We also set up a reasonable surcharge level for that trade,” HMM added.
The owner said the amounts will be reviewed quarterly in reference to factors such as the futures price for EU carbon allowances.
The highest HMM hike tops that of French giant CMA CGM, which announced surcharges in October.
The extra fees came into effect in mid-November, ranging from €20 per teu for dry box cargoes from Asia to the Mediterranean to €60 per teu for reefer cargoes from Europe to South America’s west coast, CMA CGM said.
AP Moller-Maersk plotting levy
AP Moller-Maersk said in September it would also be levying a charge for customers outside of its ECO Delivery programme, in which shippers already pay more for voyages using green fuels.
TradeWinds has reported liner shipping is set to foot the largest share of the multibillion-dollar bill for the ETS.
And that bill for the carbon credit scheme will be substantial, equating to around €6.5bn at current market prices, according to Hamburg maritime data platform OceanScore.
The liner shipping sector will rack up the biggest share, around 28% of the payments, said co-managing director Albrecht Grell, because carriers are sailing larger vessels at higher speeds, which raises the daily fuel consumption cost.
The company estimates the maritime industry would last year have needed to surrender 82.7m EUAs under the ETS.
The average ship would pay roughly €500,000 per year in EUAs, based on a recent market price of around €78 per EUA.
