The Port of Rotterdam has made €5 million available via its Climate-Friendly Shipping scheme to fund maritime projects using low- and zero-carbon fuel.
Shipping companies, fuel and engine manufacturers and suppliers and shipping service providers operating out of the Port of Rotterdam will be able to access the funding if their project relies on green fuel options. The scheme, which will run until 2022, will focus on fuel projects which will reduce CO2 emissions by more than 50 per cent, including renewable and low-carbon fuels; though projects based around biofuels will have to show that their fuel is “advanced” and derives from residual or waste flows.
The Port of Rotterdam is Europe’s largest bunkering port, with around 11 million cubic metres of bunker fuel per year supplied to ships berthed in the port. Allard Castelein, CEO of the Port of Rotterdam Authority, said: “We wish to play an active part in the reduction of CO2 emissions generated by the shipping sector. Through this scheme, we are able to give various parties just that extra financial push they need to realise a concrete project in this area.”
The Port of Rotterdam Authority is actively working towards the full decarbonisation of the maritime logistics chains which run via Rotterdam’s port as part of greater efforts throughout the Netherlands to reduce carbon emissions and combat climate change. The green fuel funding scheme is in line with goals previously laid out in the World Ports Climate Action Programme, a Rotterdam initiative launched in September 2018 in partnership with port authorities in Antwerp (Belgium), Barcelona (Spain), Hamburg (Germany), Long Beach (USA), Los Angeles (USA) and Vancouver (Canada) with the goal of reducing the shipping industry’s impact on climate change and global warming.
At the launch of the World Ports Climate Action Programme, Allard Castelein said: “The Paris Agreement has set a clear target: we need to limit global warming to well below 2°C. It is vital in this context to reduce the emissions generated by maritime transport. As critical hubs in the global maritime transport network, I am convinced that ports can make a significant contribution.”
