Port of Gothenburg extends tariff discount for LNG vessels

The Port of Gothenburg has extended and renewed the port tariff discounts for vessels running on liquefied natural gas (LNG). 

In 2015, the Port of Gothenburg introduced an environmental discount on the port tariff in an effort to increase the number of calls by ships running on LNG, the port authority said in a statement.

Several major LNG investments have been made since then, including initiatives by a number of Swedish shipping companies. This has had a positive impact on the environment, including reduced emissions of sulphur dioxide, particles and nitric oxide into the air in western Sweden, the statement reads.

The Gothenburg Port Authority is now set to extend the discount period and is already outlining a renewed environmental discount.

As part of the Gothenburg Port Authority environmental discount scheme, vessels that report good environmental performance receive a 10 percent discount on the port tariff, assuming they achieve a certain level according to the globally recognized environmental indexes ESI and CSI.

Vessels that run on LNG receive an extra discount of 20 percent each time they call. The LNG discount is subject to a time limit and is due to run to the end of this year, although the Port Authority is considering extending the discount period.

Use of the fuel began to gather momentum at the Port of Gothenburg in the second half of 2016. Prior to that, shipping companies were sceptical about investing as there was no means of bunkering LNG at the port. At the same time, the bunkering companies were unwilling to supply LNG without a customer base, the port authority said.

Edvard Molitor, environmental manager at the Gothenburg Port Authority said, “now that the discount period is drawing to a close, we can see that the upward trend is continuing at the port with a growing number of LNG calls.”

In 2019, the LNG discount will be 20 percent as previously, before being phased out during 2020 with a reduction to 10 percent.

The port authority reported a rise in the number of LNG calls at the port from 16 in 2016 to 111 last year. So far in 2018, 56 LNG vessels called at the port with 135 expected by the end of the year.