'It will be essential that the EU Strategy for unleashes the potential that private investment represent for the ports of the European Union and their connectivity, reducing risks to private capital and improving the predictability and bankability of ports as a cluster for the energy transition". It has Affirmed the president of the Federation of Private Terminal Operators European FEPORT, Gunther Bonz, commenting on the industrial strategy adopted in recent days by the Council of the EU ( of 8 June 2026).

Referring to the challenges currently facing terminal operators compare, in his speech at the FEPORT summer assembly, held on Friday in Constanta, Romania, Bonz noted that The sector finds itself "responding to the geopolitical landscape and new risks such as cyberattacks, drone risks and warfare hybrid, but - he underlined - we must not forget that without significant investments in transport infrastructure and in terms of access to energy, ports will not be able to be resilient and to play their role as facilitators of the energy transition. In ports - he specified - the sector is ready to play its role in supporting investments, but we need clarification on the rules State aid and funding, and we hope that the The European Commission and the Member States must not miss the opportunity offered by the revision of the Global Exemption Regulation for category to provide legal clarity, instead of the current fragmented picture that could deter investors private individuals".

"FEPORT - continued Bonz - welcomes the EU Transport Council conclusions on the Action Initiative for Electrification, as a tool to support the electrification of ports. We believe that the recognition, in the Networks Package, that the electricity grid infrastructures and the OPS systems in ports are of "overriding public interest", will help overcome the traditional authorization delays".

Bonz also pointed out that "the recognition by part of the EU Transport Council and the Commission risk of traffic diversion to ports of extra-EU transhipment due to the implementation of the EU ETS emissions trading, is a step towards significant, but - he stressed - should be followed, as part of the ETS review, a strong recommendation Member States to allocate part of their national revenues specifically to port investments for the installation of goods handling equipment and for the spread of the supply of electricity from shore to ships".