Stockholm Introduces New Environmental Discounts

Ports of Stockholm announced introduction of new environmentally differentiated port fees as of 2015 to encourage shipping companies to take environmental measures that go beyond the legal requirements.

The decision comes ahead of new, more stringent sulphur regulations that apply from 1 January 2015 and for that reason the current system is being revised and new discounts introduced.

“To motivate and encourage our customers to reduce their environmental impact we are introducing new environmental discounts for onshore power supply in port, for LNG vessels, and for reduced nitrogen oxide emissions,” explains Ports of Stockholm Deputy Managing Director Henrik Widerståhl.

Ports of Stockholm will offer one million SEK to every vessel that carries out refitting work to enable the vessel to connect to electricity at the quayside.

This applies at the quays where Ports of Stockholm is offering onshore power supply and under the condition that connection and service operation takes place over a three-year period.

The port fee for LNG vessels will be discounted by 5 öre per unit of gross tonnage. This means discount of more than one million SEK annually per vessel (operating a daily call service) and can, in combination with the nitrogen oxide discount, give a total rebate of 30 percent per call.

The discount for reduced emission of nitrogen oxide will be raised and will follow the seven-level scale applied by the Swedish Maritime Administration.

For a normal-sized vessel operating daily calls this will mean a discount of between three to four million SEK annually, depending on the amount of nitrogen oxide emitted.

Ports of Stockholm has applied environmentally differentiated port fees since the 1990s.