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EUROPEAN TUGOWNERS ASSOCIATION

ETA

The ETA sees its role as being: A voice of the towage industry in Europe A source of information for members A means of raising the profile of the industry An informed source of technical and professional information A link between ETA members and other associations of the maritime industry

Lobbying Activity

Response to General revision of the General Block Exemption Regulation

6 Oct 2025

The attached document represents a joint contribution from the Federation of European Private Port Companies and Terminals (FEPORT), the European Tugowners Association (ETA), and the European Maritime Pilots Association (EMPA). FEPORT, ETA, and EMPA, representing the key companies delivering techno-nautical and cargo handling services in EU ports, have collaborated to draft this joint statement. The aim is to present a unified perspective on matters of shared relevance within the scope of the GBER framework.
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Response to EU industrial maritime strategy

28 Jul 2025

The European Tugowners Association (ETA) would like to express its sincere appreciation to the European Commission for launching this call for evidence on the European Industrial Maritime Strategy. Please find attached our position paper outlining ETAs views and recommendations. We are grateful for the opportunity to contribute to this important initiative and remain at your disposal should you require any further information or clarification.
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Response to EU Ports Strategy

28 Jul 2025

The European Tugowners Association (ETA) would like to express its sincere appreciation to the European Commission for launching this call for evidence on the European Ports Strategy. Please find attached our position paper outlining ETAs views and recommendations. We are grateful for the opportunity to contribute to this important initiative and remain at your disposal should you require any further information or clarification.
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Response to EU emissions trading system for maritime, aviation and stationary installations, and market stability reserve - review

8 Jul 2025

The European Tugowners Association (ETA) welcomes the opportunity to contribute to the ongoing review of the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS). We respond specifically to the aspects of the EU ETS related to maritime transport. We appreciate the European Commissions continued engagement with stakeholders and commend the work of the Directorate-General for Climate Action (DG CLIMA) and the European Commission more broadly for their leadership in advancing climate action at both the EU and international levels. ETA remains committed to supporting the EUs climate objectives and the broader goals of the European Green Deal. We particularly applaud the Commissions proactive role at the International Maritime Organization (IMO) in shaping the forthcoming IMO Net-Zero Framework (NZF), which represents a critical step toward global decarbonisation of the maritime sector. At the same time, ETA has consistently expressed concerns about the current design and implementation of the EU ETS as it applies to maritime transport. As outlined in this response, we believe that certain aspects of the system risk undermining the competitiveness of EU ports, disproportionately impacting essential services such as towage, and creating unintended market distortions. We urge the Commission and Member States to ensure that the EU ETS evolves in a way that is fair, effective, and aligned with global regulatory developments.
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Meeting with Apostolos Tzitzikostas (Commissioner) and

1 Jul 2025 · Strategic Dialogue on the EU Industrial Maritime Strategy

Meeting with Apostolos Tzitzikostas (Commissioner) and

1 Jul 2025 · Strategic Dialogue on the EU Port Strategy

Meeting with Stéphane Séjourné (Executive Vice-President) and

1 Jul 2025 · EU Strategic Dialogue on the EU Industrial Maritime Strategy.

Meeting with Beatriz Yordi (Director Climate Action) and European Sea Ports Organisation and

26 Jun 2025 · ETS extension to maritime & IMO developments

Meeting with Daniel Attard (Member of the European Parliament) and Ryanair Holdings and

24 Sept 2024 · Introductory Meeting

Response to Monitoring and reporting of greenhouse gas emissions from offshore ships and zero-rating of sustainable fuels

3 Sept 2024

Please find attached the feedback of the European Tugowners Association on the draft delegated act on offshore ships.
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Meeting with Caroline Nagtegaal (Member of the European Parliament) and Transport and Environment (European Federation for Transport and Environment) and

13 Feb 2024 · EU ETS Maritime

Response to Prolongation of the Consortia Block Exemption Regulation

2 Jan 2020

The European Tugowners Association welcomes the opportunity to give feedback to the Staff Working Document of the commission related to CBER. It is unfortunate that the CBER has been unilaterally extended without taking into consideration the concerns of a number of stakeholders including that of ETA. The attachment contains the full details of ETA's response to the consultation on the SWD. Hereunder are a few initial comments: Since the beginning of the application of the CBER the shipping landscape has changed considerably. Indeed this has also changed since the last review of this exemption. Changes within this landscape, partly due to the size of the global alliances and also the size of the vessels such alliances operate, have brought about a significant effect on port services. Services such as the Tug sector, whose primary aim is the safety of the port infrastructure and of the vessels being assisted, have been impacted. Tug owners have to invest in larger and stronger tugs but have fewer jobs due to megaships doing lesser calls and are subject to price negotiation by alliances leading to a downward spiral of pricing. Indeed the greatest concern of ETA in relation to the CBER is the negotiation power that such alliances exert on port services driving service providers to have to accept lower pricing which many a time is economically unviable. ETA is also concerned that the SWD seems not to have taken into consideration the evidence that the ITF report has provided in terms of the impact of CBER and its applicability. Furthermore in the SWD, the Commission has failed to: In its Staff Working Document, the Commission did not: (1) to obtain the relevant price and market share data and information readily available from the carriers to enable it to review the operation of the CBER in the light of the major developments in the industry since the last review in 2014; (2) to recognize that a BER is the application of competition law by the legislation of general application to a category of defined agreements but is not a self-standing law in the same way as standard EU legislation subject to the EU Better Regulation policy and the related Evaluation process; (3) to assess the five Evaluation criteria accurately and in a balanced way, in any event, in particular, because of the failure to obtain the available relevant data and mainly by ignoring important changes in the liner shipping market since 2014. (4) to recognize, despite the evidence provided in the relevant ITF reports including its report on the Impact of Mega ships (2015) and the more recent ITF study on liner shipping alliances, that the reduced possibility of costs rationalisation has resulted in a continuous deterioration in the quality of service and therefore an erosion rather than increase in economic benefits to share with users; (5) to analyze the impact of liner shipping consortia on ports operations and landside transportation (6) explicitly prohibit consortia members from negotiating jointly shoreside port services and hinterland logistics. Hence ETA reiterates that the Commission should not simply extend the CBER for another four years. Four years would potentially significantly and irreparably harm the European maritime logistics sector. At most, the Commission should extend the CBER for one year, during which a proper review is conducted. If not, then the Commission must let the CBER expire in April 2020.
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