Newsletters

On 29 July, the European Commission launched an open public consultation on CountEmissions EU, a new initiative that shall make it easier to measure the environmental performance of different transport options. To that end, CountEmissions EU shall offer a framework for calculating transport and logistics-related door-to door greenhouse gas emissions in a consistent way, regardless of transport mode, sector or country of operation.

On 9 August, the European Commission launched a call for evidence inviting feedback on the performance of the EU legal framework which exempts liner shipping consortia from EU antitrust rules (Consortia Block Exemption Regulation or ‘CBER'). CLECAT has been calling for an early start of the review process since many months, as European businesses and other parties in the supply chain have suffered huge disruption to the movement of goods by container shipping since the Regulation was last renewed in April 2020, with many sailings being cancelled or diverted to other ports, and ports being skipped. At the same time shipping rates have more than quadrupled on many routes and continue to remain 3 to 4 times higher than in 2019.

During the summer period, the CLECAT offices will remain open. The next CLECAT Newsletter will be published on Friday, 19 August.

On 19 July, the European Commission approved, under EU State aid rules, a €285 million Spanish scheme to encourage freight transport to shift from road to rail. The scheme will be funded through the Recovery and Resilience Facility (‘RRF').

On 21 July, the European Commission published a public consultation on the initiative to revise the Union Customs Code, which will remain open until 14 September. The aim of this consultation is to gather views from a broad range of stakeholders on the state of the customs union and possible reform elements. The input collected will feed into the ongoing preparatory work by the Commission for an integrated package of measures, to be published by the end of the year.

On 19 July, CLECAT submitted its response to the public consultation on the evaluation of Directive 96/53/EC on Weights and Dimensions for heavy-duty vehicles. The Directive sets out standards for the maximum weights and dimensions of heavy-duty vehicles used in national and international transport.

On 19 July, Ministers and officials from 119 countries convened at ICAO for high-level discussions and briefings toward a new collective global long-term reduction goal for international aviation CO2 emissions. The new international emissions reduction goal is expected to be formally established at the 41st ICAO Assembly in September, and States had asked the ICAO Council to work in advance of that event to help them explore the feasibility of various emissions reduction options.

Shipping consultants reported this week that container freight rates have further decreased, corresponding to the broader trend of decreasing freight rates since early 2022, but have not reached pre-pandemic levels yet.

On 20 July, the European Commission adopted an amendment to the State aid Temporary Crisis Framework to support the EU economy in the context of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Earlier this month, the Commission consulted Member States on a draft proposal to adjust the Framework.