The Catalan government is preparing some adjustments to the emissions tax on large ships to better adapt it to the reality of the port sector, following dialogue held in recent months with the sector and key players such as the Port of Barcelona, which supports these changes.
Lluís Salvadó, president of the port of Barcelona, believes that "much progress has been made" in improving this new tax, while sources from the Catalan government's Department of Economy have not detailed what changes have been introduced, although they assure that the tax has generated many profound suggestions that have ended up "improving it and adapting it to the port's reality.".
Therefore, the Government is "finalizing" the technical aspects of the tax together with the Climate Action department in order to approve it after the summer.
Salvadó has also not revealed the modifications that are being introduced, but has pointed out that this tax has gone from having an initial "fiscal" approach to an "extra-fiscal" one, in the sense that it serves as a "tool to support the sector" to help it in reducing its polluting emissions and to anticipate this decarbonization process.
Salvadó, who in February warned that this tax could cause cruise ships, container ships or other large vessels to relocate to other ports where they would not have to pay, now believes, after the latest versions of this new regulation, that the Catalan government has improved its proposal.
In the version known so far, the draft bill considered a large ship to be any vessel with a capacity greater than 5,000 tons and established a tax of 1 euro/Kg/NOx/PM, that is, 1,000 euros per ton of emission, which would increase year by year until reaching 3.5 euros in 2026, the fourth year of application.
Although the Catalan president, Pere Aragonès, announced on June 28 that the tax would be approved in July, the regional government has ultimately missed the deadline and sources from the Catalan government's Department of Economy have clarified that it is expected to be approved after the summer holidays.
These sources have recalled that the objective of the tax - which initially expected to raise between 9.7 million euros in the first year of implementation and 34 million euros in the fourth year in force - is to tax emissions, but that it has never had a revenue-raising purpose, but rather to help modify polluting behaviors.
It's worth remembering that in Barcelona, the Catalan government's tax on cruise ships is in addition to the local council's tax. Cruise passengers making a stop of less than 12 hours (and therefore not staying overnight in the city) will pay €5.75, more than double the €2.75 they paid in 2022. Those staying for more than 12 hours will pay slightly less (€4.75) because they are assumed to be less intensive tourists. The municipal tax will finally reach €3.25 in 2024.
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