British ports push back on EU ETS evasion crackdown, citing new terminal capacity and network changes

British ports are challenging Brussels over proposed EU ETS anti-evasion rules that could treat UK terminals as loopholes for shipping lines avoiding carbon charges. The British Ports Association says the growth in UK container traffic is mostly explained by DP World's new berth at London Gateway, not by companies dodging EU carbon pricing. London Gateway handled over 3 million teu in 2025, up 52 percent, after Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd shifted services there. The dispute centers on a Spanish study attributing 76 percent of route changes to the EU ETS and on Commission plans to bring ports within 150 nautical miles of an EU port into emissions accounting. The BPA argues the teu-miles metric conflates network distance with actual cargo shifts and ignores alliance restructuring, congestion, and new capacity. The outcome matters for shipping decarbonization and for investment in low-carbon port infrastructure on both sides of the Channel.