EMEA News
Gothenburg to Extend fee Discount Scheme for LNG-fuelled Ship Calls
Sweden's Gothenburg port is to extend its fee discount scheme for ships using liquified natural gas (LNG) as marine fuel.
The scheme, which runs out at the end of the year, will be extended by two years, the port authority has said.
Under the scheme, LNG-fuelled ships calling at the port attract a 20% discount on port fees.
"A catalyst was necessary to break the deadlock, and the energy discount has been a strong contributing factor behind many players choosing to follow the LNG route," Gothenburg's environmental manager Edvard Molitor 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.
"We aim to maintain our support for this development, and we are therefore planning to extend the four-year discount period by a further two years," he added.
The 20% discount will remain in place for 2019 to be phased out the following year. The port authority said it was to develop tits regular indexed environmental discount to take "greater account of the vessels' environmental impact rather than the technology or the fuel used to run the vessel".
In the run up to IMO2020, LNG is seen as a viable alternative to the pollutant-heavy high sulfur fuel oil most ships use.
