This is the First Progress report prepared by the Commission on the implementation of its Staff Working Paper "Pollutant emission reduction from maritime transport and the Sustainable Waterborne Transport Toolbox" (also known as the ‘toolbox’). It covers the period September 2011 to January 2013.
To recap, the toolbox accompanied the proposal for an amendment to Directive 1999/32/EC transposing the 2008 International Maritime Organization (IMO) standards on the maximum level of sulphur permitted for fuels used in the shipping sector. It proposed a number of short-term accompanying measures, under the current financial perspective, to reduce compliance costs in relation to the new low sulphur standards, as well as a set of medium and longer-term accompanying measures aimed at addressing the environmental challenges confronting the EU shipping sector from a broader perspective and in a more integrated manner.
The report presents the current state of implementation of the measures set out in the toolbox and puts forward proposals for closer cooperation between the Commission, Member States and industry stakeholders to manage the implementation of the measures and provides a means for developing additional measures where appropriate.
The report briefly describes the progress to date related to the short-term accompanying measures, which were aimed at ensuring that current EU financial instruments, and national funding schemes, would continue to provide specific support to maritime-based projects which focused on promoting solutions complying with the new low sulphur standard.
Work on the formulation of medium and longer-term accompanying measures has already commenced with a set of actions focusing on identifying and addressing the regulatory gaps hampering the safe and secure implementation of clean ship technologies and use of alternative fuels, notably marine LNG, as well as on the development of the necessary standards and green infrastructure.
The report briefly outlines the way forward for the Commission, Member States, and industry stakeholders to jointly progress the toolbox implementation. In this context, the Commission proposes the creation of a dedicated expert group – the European Sustainable Shipping Forum (ESSF).
Next steps: the ESSF will provide a platform for a structural dialogue, exchange of best practices and technical knowledge, cooperation, and coordination amongst relevant public and private maritime industries' stakeholders and relevant Commission services in areas jointly identified. The ESSF will be assisted by technical working groups which will focus in the first instance on scrubbing technology and marine LNG deployment, coordination of research and development activities and innovation (working on the basis of the broader research and development orientations provided by the WATERBORNE Technology Platform), financing aspects and exchange of best practices for the implementation of Directive 2012/33/EU.
Annex 1 to this report presents a Roadmap for advancing the implementation of the Sustainable Waterborne Transport Toolbox and Annex 2 lists the TEN-T co-funded Motorways of the Sea (MoS) and ports projects in support of the low sulphur political priority.