January 14, 2018 - As part of its new year’s resolutions, the Port of Amsterdam has decided to reduce shipping emissions and minimize the environmental impact in the coming years.
The port wants to do this through its Clean Shipping Vision for 2030 and by working with the shipping sector. The Clean Shipping Vision contains sustainability objectives through concrete actions. One of the goals is reducing emissions of docked sea cruise ships by 50 per cent.
The plan also includes emissions from ships themselves and those associated with port activities such as loading and unloading. Another objective is to decrease noise and air pollution caused by the use of diesel generators at public berths inside the Amsterdam ring road to virtually zero by 2018.
As the implementation of the vision requires an international approach and long-term commitment, the target year for Port of Amsterdam’s ambitions has been set at 2030. The port’s objective is to achieve a reduction in nitrogen (NOx), sulphur (SOx) and particulate matter (PM) emissions of up to 50 percent of sea cruise ships docked in Amsterdam by 2018, the year in which the baseline measurement will be made.
It is assumed that by 2030 the environmental performance of all seagoing vessels that enter the port is at least equivalent to that of the current, most environmentally friendly ships.
According to port officials it is important to become more sustainable.
“The Clean Shipping Vision is essential to maintaining our license to operate and license to grow. It enables us to contribute to improving the sustainability of the logistics chain and future-proofing our city, our port and our region for current and future generations,” says Marleen van de Kerkhof, Port of Amsterdam Harbour Master.
The Port of Amsterdam plans to invest 10 million euro until 2021 into its infrastructure, including LNG bunkering facilities and ship-to-shore power, to achieve these objectives. Also, the existing incentive programme for promoting cleaner shipping will be expanded further and LNG-fuelled vessels will receive additional discount on port dues.
The first step in this process has already been taken. Recently a contract was signed to get the first floating bunkering station for liquefied natural gas (LNG) to the port. Titan LNG, a leading supplier of LNG to the marine and industrial markets in North West Europe, has contracted the manufacturing consortium for its innovative FlexFueler001.
After having received the principal design approval for Europe’s first LNG bunkering pontoon from Bureau Veritas, the head contractor Kooiman Marine Group, together with subcontractors Marine Services Noord and Cryovat International committed to the realization of the FlexFueler001.
Smaller seagoing vessels and cruise ships are set to benefit from the bunkering station by 2019.
The pontoon will have the ability to deliver LNG in a range from 30 to 600 cubic metre per hour and will have two 380 cubic metre tanks. Investments costs are estimated to be worth 9 million euro, and the project has been financed with support from the Province of North-Holland.
“Due to the substantial increase in upcoming demand for LNG as a bunker fuel in the ARA (Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp) region, we had the opportunity to outfit the pontoon directly with four tanks. It was an easy trade-off between becoming operational slightly deferred and reaching maximum capacity of 1480 cubic metre from the start directly,” says Titan LNG’s commercial director marine, Michael Schaap.
Rinus Kooiman, managing director of the Kooiman Marine Group ads: “We identified LNG as an important development for the necessary emission improvements in the shipping. To us, the FlexFueler is the logical last mile solution for in-port operations. It copies the usual modus of operations in the existing bunkering market, paramount for adoption by ship owners. Furthermore, heading shipbuilding projects, acting as the main contractor and taking full responsibility for the complete ship, also fits our full-service philosophy.”
Source: World Maritime News
