They are as Dutch as a rhyme with Sinterklaas. The bins with cheap Asian textiles and knick knacks at Zeeman and Action, where bored shoppers can rummage through for things they usually don’t need, but which are bought anyway thanks to the lure. Nowadays they can also be found in supermarkets and drugstores if a buyer has come across a container of cheap stuff that an importer cannot use.
If the shipping companies are to be believed, that will be over in the future. Corona will lie down or trudge on like some kind of flu. The war in Ukraine will end one day. But global logistics will never be the same again.
For some it is a blessing that this form of consumerism is coming to an end. Another is angry because chains such as Zeeman, Primark and whatever they are called enable lower incomes to buy new things, so that they do not have to go to the clothing bank.
Last week, after ten years of negotiations, the EU decided that shipping companies will fall under the emissions trading system ETS. This means that transoceanic and regional shipping traffic will become billions of euros more expensive, which will ultimately have to be passed on in the price of the items shipped.
Sea transport is the backbone of world trade. It is the most efficient and cheapest way to transport bulk goods such as oil, ores and agricultural products over long distances. Thanks to containers, industrial products can also be transported cheaply from one place to another on the globe. But the fuel oil used by these ships not only generates huge greenhouse gas emissions – 833 million tons of CO₂ or 3 percent of the total – but also leads to other forms of pollution.
Without measures, CO₂ emissions from sea transport would increase by another 250 percent by 2050, while these must also be reduced to zero. It is not easy to encourage shipping companies to participate in the reduction. The lifespan of seagoing vessels is very long. There are plenty of options to make shipping greener with innovative propellers and smoother water displacement, or switch to biomethanol or liquefied gas as fuel, but it will be decades before this actually happens. In total, it would cost 1,500 billion euros to make the world’s trading fleet more sustainable.
That is why shipping is put in front of the block. From January 1, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) will accurately record the fuel consumption of every ship above 5,000 tons and attach an energy label to it. Ships that fail to meet the minimum requirements must be withdrawn from service. Others have to pay a levy. In addition to European shipping companies, shipping companies from outside the EU also fall under the trading system for CO₂ rights.
The CE Delft research institute calculated that the total sum will amount to 7 billion euros per year. But if that is calculated back to a pair of $100 sneakers, that’s an extra 10 cents.
Despite the complaints of shipping companies, this will not deter bargain hunters.