Each vessel on the Environmental Ship Index (ESI), a register of 3,600 vessels kept by the International Association for Ports and Harbours (IAPH), outperform the regulatory requirements for ship emissions, the group claims in a submission to the UN.
Presenting its data to the Climate Summit of the UN during COP21, IAPH, which represents over 200 ports, has found that a further 40 of the ESI-listed vessels are eligible for rewards from ports providing incentive schemes for minimal emissions in port, IAPH md Fer van de Laar said.
“Environmental regulations for shipping are becoming stricter all the time, but we want to make sure vessels remain eligible for ESI discounts,” said van der Laar. “We want to encourage efficient shipping practice, but it is not easy to develop standards for this. The many factors that have to be taken into account – type of cargo, engines, volume, draft – make it a complex process.
“But we have found a solution: each vessel becomes self-referential. Vessels that report to us their annual miles travelled and the fuel consumed, receive incentive points.”
The rewards, offered by ports such as Long Beach, and Tokyo as well as smaller ports such as Port Nelson in New Zealand and Flåm in Norway, typically comprise a discount on harbour duties ranging from 5% to up to 100% in some cases.
“The number of rewarders has stagnated, but we are working hard to increase this again, because more ports taking part means more vessels will be registered’, said van der Laar. “The ESI appears to be a simple but powerful tool for ports, in supporting shipowners at the vanguard who perform better than legally required. This way, they contribute to a better environment and assist the port in obtaining their licence to operate.”
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