ESC contributes to the development of the European maritime framework bringing in shippers’ perspective. This comes through policy recommendations, ESC industry activities for benchmarking, and cooperation with partners in the maritime sector. We need a better monitoring of the current maritime scenario, a constructive dialogue, and a positive attitude. These will only improve the issues the sector is facing: opacity, service levels, routes, and frequencies; as well as the environmental challenge. ESC aims at transparency and fair competition amongst the stakeholders involved.
Consortia
The Consortia Block Exemption Regulation (CBER) will not be extended beyond April 2024. The CBER allowed container carriers to enjoy more lenient competition rules compared to the common EU legislation. ESC has always argued that the CBER favored unnecessary competition restrictions, causing poor service levels for shippers.
Slow steaming
Slow steaming is a new opportunity for moving towards a more sustainable maritime transport scenario. For ESC, it is important to understand the impact that slow steaming may have on cargo and for shippers. Participating in the current discussions with all parties involved in slow steaming, ESC is determined to search for and inform about the best possibilities that slow steaming can offer.