In 2019 Hamburg Port Authority (HPA) will introduce a port fee environmental component for inland vessels and watercrafts operating in the port that will be taken into account when calculating the port fees and charges due. HPA will also widen the scope of the port fee environmental component for seagoing ships and raise the port fees and charges for most types of traffic by 1.6 per cent, which is still below the inflation rate. Exceptionally large vessel discounts and transhipment rebates as well as caps will remain mostly unchanged, in particular considering that work on the fairway adjustment has not started yet.
“By introducing the port fee environmental component and widening its scope respectively, we support shipping companies in their efforts to improve sustainability,” says Jens Meier, CEO of HPA.
Coming next year, a portion of the port fees and charges will be calculated based on engine certificates issued pursuant to the Central Commission for Navigation on the Rhine [ZKR] and non-road-mobile-machinery [NRMM] regulations, which must be submitted for inland vessels and port-operating watercrafts. The certificates state the environmental performance of a ship’s engines. Low-emissions ships will be granted discounts/rebates, and surcharges will be imposed on more polluting ships or ships for which no certificates have been submitted.
The Environmental Ship Index (ESI) discount, one of the HPA’s emissions-reducing incentive schemes already in place, continues to apply to seagoing ships. Shipping companies have responded well to the ESI index. Worldwide more than 7,000 ships are ESI-certified, and over 50 ports and other supporting bodies promote environmental friendliness through their own incentive schemes.
