All news & events

EUROCONTROL has published a study on climate change risks for European aviation, concluding that climate change poses significant and increasing risks to aviation in the years ahead.

On 13 September, Rep. Alan Lowenthal (D-CA) announced that the U.S Congress would not begin work on the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2021 (OSRA 2021) until after November, and once the House has addressed other major legislative files such as the infrastructure package, voting rights reform, and legislation to bolster Roe v. Wade. Introduced in August by two members of Congress, John Garamendi (D-CA) and Dusty Johnson (R-SD), the bipartisan bill would impose minimum requirements on ocean carrier service contracts and shifts the burden of proof in regulatory proceedings from shippers to the container lines.

On 15 September, the U.S Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) announced in a statement that it has voted to launch two demurrage-and-detention related initiatives in order to clarify conflicts related to delayed goods at US ports. These actions follow the signing of an executive order by US President Joe Biden ordering the FMC to take action against unreasonable fees charged by shipping companies for delays and bottlenecks at ports.

On 13 September, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission Margrethe Vestager answered to the parliamentary question from MEPs Tom Berendsen (NL, PPE), Annie Schreijer-Pierik (NL, PPE), and Henna Virkkunen (FI, PPE) on unfair practices in the container shipping industry that disrupt entire supply chains. In its response, the Commission recognises that the COVID-19 pandemic had unprecedented effects on both the demand and supply sides and caused wide fluctuations in demand.

The Loadstar and Splash reported earlier this week on another letter sent to the European Commission (EC), signed by ten shipper and forwarder organisations, outlining their concerns over the liner shipping market, raising the new complaint that carriers are abusing their dominant position to obtain commercially sensitive data.

On 16 September, the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA) published a funding call of €100 million as part of the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) for the development and upgrading of Safe and Secure Truck Parking Areas (SSTPAs).

CLECAT, jointly with DSLV and associations representing insurance companies, secure parking operators and road transport operators, underlined the urgent need to move forward with the construction of new Safe and Secure Truck Parking Areas (SSTPAs) in the EU and a harmonised EU SSTPA Standard, with clear and unambiguous rules on security, safety and comfort levels for these SSTPAs. With this in mind, the signatories strongly supported the announcement for future funding for SSTPAs through the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF II).