Port of Antwerp offers discounts to environmentally-friendly ships

Marine vessels using alternative technologies to reduce particulate emissions will see dues reduced by up to 30% at the Belgian port.    The Port of Antwerp will begin offering additional discounts to marine vessels using alternative technologies to reduce particulate emissions, effective June 1, 2015.
   According to a statement from the port authority, the new discount will combine with an existing Environmental Ship Index (ESI) discount to provide customers with a savings of as much as 30 percent in the port dues. The new discount will be offered for three years and will gradually be reduced during that time period.
   In order to receive the new particulate emissions discount, ships must demonstrate they either make effective use of scrubbers (in closed mode) or are powered by liquefied natural gas for a period of at least 24 hours before they call at Antwerp. The port will grant a 20 percent discount to vessels powered by LNG and a 15 percent reduction in port dues to those that use closed scrubbers through 2016. In 2017, the discounts will be reduced to 10 percent and 5 percent, respectively, “in order to reward the ‘early adopters’ who make the necessary investment now,” the port authority said.
   ESI discounts, in place for some time now at Antwerp as well as 24 other ports, are based on a system of credits ships can earn for having environmental performance better than required by the regulations for NOx, SOx and CO2. Vessels that receive 31 or more of the 100 total possible credits get a port dues discount of 10 percent.
   “With this additional environmental discount Antwerp Port Authority seeks to encourage investments in green technologies for more sustainable shipping, by supporting and rewarding these technology pioneers,” the port authority said.
   “Despite all efforts so far, shipping still makes a significant contribution towards local pollution, mainly in the form of SOx, NOx and particulates,” the port added. “Antwerp Port Authority seeks to attract ships that make use of innovative, sustainable technology, encouraging them to come to Antwerp as the city and its port both suffer from high concentrations of air pollution such as particulates. The Particulates and NO2 Action Plan for the Port and City of Antwerp brings together the various measures that can be taken to reduce emissions of these polluting substances. The new discount system is one of the measures for tackling the environmental impact which ships have on the air quality in Antwerp.”