Newsletters

This week, the CLECAT Board, General Assembly and several of its institutes met in Brussels to discuss and plan strategies for 2023, addressing priories but also ongoing logistics and supply chain issues.

The European Freight Forwarders Association (CLECAT), the European Shippers’ Council (ESC) and the European Logistics Association (ELA) welcomed around 150 participants, keynote speakers, and panellists at the Logistics for Europe event on 23rd November, organised jointly to debate the challenges of European logistics and the need for enhanced collaboration between parties in the European and global supply chains.

The European Commission published this week a series of reports and documents highlighting the progress made in implementing the Energy Union, notably a report on the achievement of the 2020 renewable energy targets, including in the transport sector.

The European Commission announced it is urgently dedicating EUR 250 million grants to sustain and boost the capacity of the EU-Ukraine Solidarity Lanes.

France has recently opened up the state energy savings certificate (ESC) scheme to shippers, aimed to speed up modal shift. The ESC scheme, which is based on the ‘polluter-pays’ principle, has been in place since 2005. It is intended to enable sectors that reduce their carbon footprint to benefit from the funds paid (into the scheme) by large industrial groups responsible for a large part of CO2 emissions.

On 16 November, the Digital Services Act (DSA), setting rules for a safer and more accountable online environment, entered into force. The DSA applies to all digital services that connect consumers to goods, services, or content. It creates comprehensive new obligations for online platforms to reduce harms and counter risks online, introduces strong protections for users' rights online, and places digital platforms under a unique new transparency and accountability framework.

The European Commission has started its work on a communication on the creation of a common European mobility data space (EMDS), and has published a call for evidence, which will be open for feedback until 7 December 2022. The EMDS aims to facilitate data access, pooling and sharing for more efficient, safe, sustainable and resilient transport. It builds on initiatives and applications related to transport data and will be supported by initiatives to boost interoperability, security, and the availability and provision of data and services.

On 16 November the European Logistics Platform held an event on the lack of skilled workforce in the logistics sector. The event was hosted by MEP Marianne Vind (S&D, Denmark) who was joined by panel speakers, Raluca Marian, Director for EU advocacy of IRU, Pablo Fabregas Martinez, Member of the cabinet of Transport Commissioner Adina Vălean, Morten Utengen, chairman of the board of Utengen Transport A/S and Yves Baden, HR Director at the Luxembourg National Railway Company (CLF).

With more than 140 persons having registered for the Logistics for Europe event, taking place on the 23rd of November 2022 at the Residence Palace in Brussels, there is still an opportunity to register. The joint shippers and logistics service providers’/forwarders’ event will address the growing pressure on trade to keep cargo moving in a sustainable and efficient way at times of the energy crisis. In addition, the event will discuss the changes that have occurred in the container shipping market in recent years, and how changes to the competition rules can restore trust and confidence in the container shipping industry, which is vital to the European business and consumers Confirmed speakers include Charlotte Nørlund-Matthiessen, member of the cabinet of Commissioner Adina Valean, Steven Pope, Group Head Trade Facilitation (Go Trade) at Deutsche Post DHL Group, Koen De Leus, Chief Economist, BNP Paribas Fortis, Danielle Tap, Director of Partner Programs, Digital Container Shipping Association, DCSA, Alessandro Pitto, Managing Director at Casasco & Nardi, Szymon Oscislowski, Deputy Head of Unit, DG MOVE, Mike Garratt, Chairman of MDS Transmodal, Olaf Merk, ITF, Henrik Morch, Director of Services, DG COMP and others. In case you would like to join the event online, please note that this is now possible. For further details and registration see the CLECAT website.