Hamburg introduces ‘Green Port’ fees
Hamburg prides itself on being a green port and is promoting the use of cleaner ships.
The Hamburg Port Authority (HPA) introduced a discount on port dues for environmentally friendly ships last year.
The aim is to further reduce the emission of pollutants from marine vessels. Ships with an above average environmental performance are rewarded. The basis of assessment is the Environmental Ship Index (ESI), which allows ports to identify and evaluate ships based on environmental criteria similar to emission badges displayed on vehicles.
The ESI takes account of both carbon dioxide emissions as well as nitrogen oxide and sulphur oxide emissions. The ESI point scheme ranges from zero to 100, whereby ‘100’ equals zero emission of the pollutants assessed. In Hamburg, ocean going vessels will be granted a discount on port dues of up to 10%, with the staggered discount scheme starting at an ESI score of 20 points.
“Hamburg contributes to a greener shipping and port industry. Together with the other major ports we are promoting the use of ever cleaner ships”, said Jens Meier, managing director of the HPA.
When it comes to protecting the environment, the HPA is pursuing several approaches. At the beginning of the year, the port railway introduced green tariffs. The use of low emission diesel locomotives is rewarded with a discount as is the use of wagons equipped with low noise brakes. For years, inland barges as well as the HPA’s own fleet have been relying on berths providing onshore power supply. In addition, the HPA uses low sulphur fuel. The HPA is also active in international committees that are looking into options of onshore power supply for ocean going vessels. This month, the HPA will host the international GreenPort Congress.
At the beginning of last year, the World Ports Climate Initiative (WPCI), a subsidiary of the global umbrella organisation of port administrations IAPH (International Association of Ports and Harbor) introduced an index to measure the environmental performance of ships.
Ship owners and operators can have their ships rated within the scope of the ESI provided they enter their data on the homepage of the project at: www.environmentalshipindex.org
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