Maersk adds support to carbon fee on bunkers

As the debate over carbon taxes escalates
amid fears of increased costs for land and
sea freight operators, Maersk Line has
given its backing to the idea of a tax as
part of international efforts to make the
world a better place.
Spokesperson in Copenhagen for
Maersk Line, Louise Kjaergaard, said the
company actively supported the call for
CO2 regulation for shipping and a global
agreement on climate change.
Kjaergaard said Maersk Line would
continue to urge the International
Maritime Organisation (IMO) to
remove the barriers for an agreement
applicable to all shipping companies.
For example, Kjaergaard said there was
support in the form of a carbon fee on
purchases of bunker fuel.
“Such a deal will almost surely increase
the cost of operating a shipping line, but
as long as the agreement is designed to
ensure a level playing field for all, we
would welcome it,” Kjaergaard said.
A carbon tax is certainly on the cards.
In February National Treasury said that
environmentally related taxes had an
important role to play in discouraging
activities that imposed high social costs
and would ensure that economic growth
and development were sustainable.
On Friday at its annual meeting in
Hamburg the International Chamber of
Shipping (ICS) and the International
Shipping Federation (ISF) said that
if market-based measures to reduce
CO2 emissions were developed by
governments then the international
industry had a definite preference for a
mechanism that was levy/compensation
fund-based rather than an emissions
trading scheme.