Slow-steaming ships to enjoy port entry/leave fee discounts; 

fine dust levels to go down

 

The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (MOF; Minister MOON, Seong-Hyeok) will begin “Vessel Speed Reduction Program” beginning December this year, as an effort to reduce fine dust from ships.

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The Program was supposed to begin on January 1st 2020, when Special Act on Improving Air Quality on Port Areas, Etc., takes effect, but will begin earlier as an attempt to reduce fine dust levels during winter.

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Under the Program, ships will have their port facilities fees lowered when they enter ports at a speed below certain levels. In other countries, similar programs have been in place since 2001 at Los Angeles Port and Long Beach Port in order to protect marine environment.

 

*Los Angeles Port and Long Beach Port   For Los Angeles Port and Long Beach Port, Vessel Speed Reduction Program Sea Areas are respectively 20 nautical miles and 40 nautical miles. Ships that enter these zones with speed at or slower than 12 knots will have their berthing rates reduced 15% and 30% respectively. (Only for shipping companies that slow-steamed over 90% of the cases a year)

 

 

The Korean Program will provide even greater incentives in order to induce more ships to participate in the program, which is important considering the seriousness of fine dust levels in ports.

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As for ports, 5 major ports (▲Busan Port, ▲Ulsan Port, ▲Yeosu Port, ▲Gwangyang Port, ▲Incheon Port) with the largest number of ships* will first be designated as Vessel Speed Reduction Program Sea Areas. Each Area will span 20 nautical miles in radius, measured from specific lighthouse in each port. Ships that wish Slow-Steam should sail no faster than certain speed (12 knots for container ships and car-carriers, 10 knots for other ship types) when moving from a starting point to an end point within the Area.

 

*(2018 Port Entry Record) Busan 60,240 ships/ Ulsan 23,379 ships/ Yeosu, Gwangyang 20,578 ships/ Incheon 17,543 ships)

 

Ships eligible for the Program differ by each port: As for ship-types, they have to be among the top 3 fine-dust-emitting ship-types; as for ship size, they have to be ocean-going ships that are no smaller than 3,000 tons; and any abnormal port entries* do not count.

 

*1. When ships temporarily stop while sailing in the Area
2. When 5-minute average speed within the Area exceeds 150% of the recommended speed for 2 times and more
3. Intentionally declaring the arrival time late etc.

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< Eligible Ship-Types and Recommended Speed (Knot) >

Busan Port		Ulsan Port		Yeosu, Gwangyang Port		Incheon Port
Ship Type (Port-Mis Code)	Recommended Speed	Ship Type (Port-Mis Code)	Recommended Speed	Ship Type (Port-Mis Code)	Recommended Speed	Ship Type (Port-Mis Code)	Recommended Speed
Container Ship(41)	12	Container Ship(41)	12	Container Ship(41)	12	Container Ship(41)	12
General Cargo Ship (21, 39)	10	Crude Oil Carrier (51)	10	General Cargo Ship(21, 39)	10	General Cargo Ship(21, 39)	10
Car Carrier (27)	12	Chemical Carrier (53)	10	LNG carrier (56)	10	LNG carrier (56)	10

 

For participating ships, port entry/leave fee (111 KRW per ton), which is the biggest part of port-facilities usage fee, will be discounted. (The discount ceiling differs by each port*) Container ships, which enters port fast and can have huge effect on reducing fine dust, will enjoy up to 30% discount, while other ships will enjoy up to 15% discount.

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*If discount exceeds the ceiling for each port (Busan – 1.5 billion KRW, Yeosu/Gwangyang 500 million KRW, Ulsan-500 million KRW), discount rate for all ships will be adjusted (15% or 30%).

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Ships that have already been enjoying port entry/leave fee discounts through other policies will see additional discounts under this program. The discounted amount will altogether be returned to each shipping company, after document verification, following account closing.

 

During the early implementation phase, all participating ships will enjoy port entry/leave fee discount per each sail. However, staring January next year, only ships that slow-steam for no less than 60% of all annual port entries will enjoy the discounts, in order to exclude ships that slow-steam for other arbitrary reasons and to encourage ships to participate in the program more sustainably. The mandatory percentage will start from 60% and increase annually to 90%.

 

For shipping companies with high slow-steaming rate will see additional incentives, such as ▲ eco-friendly performance announcement ▲ award ceremony and ▲ additional points for existing eco-friendly programs of port authorities.

 

Shipping companies that participate in December 2019 should submit the application form and evidence documents to each port authority by and before January 31st, 2020. Evidence data are ship location and time, and can be gathered at GICOMS or ECDIS. From January 2020, the application form and evidence documents can be submitted through Port-Mis. Going forward, Port-Mis and ship location-information system will be aligned, so that ships can participate in the program easily, without having to submit evidence documents through separate channels.

 

Kim Jun-Seok, Director-General of Shipping and Logistics Bureau of the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, said “slow-steaming ships are expected to reduce fine-dust levels. According to IMO studies, when ship sails 20% slower, fuel consumption reduces by about half. We will identify and improve problems during this program-implementation period, so that this program can improve port air quality.”

 

 

< Busan Port >	< Incheon Port >
< Yeosu/Gwangyang Port >	< Ulsan Port>

 

 

Reference 2

How to participate in the Program

 

① Identify Slow-Steaming Sea Area

 

Before entering ports, go to MOF webpage (www.mof.go.kr) , click “Announcement/News” tab, click “Notice”, and find for Vessel Speed Reduction Program Sea Areas and Eligible Ship Types for each port

 

②  Steam slowly when entering each port

 

When approaching Vessel Speed Reduction Program Sea Area, steam no faster than Recommended Speed (Differs by each ship type: 12 knots for container ships and car carriers; 10 knots for other ships) until reaching the arrival point (pilotage area or mooring area)

 

③ Submit application/evidence documents

 

Submit Vessel Speed Reduction Program application, or GICOMS or ECDIS documents containing ship’s location and time data (During ‘19.12.1~31, submit to each port authority; From  ’20.1.1, submit to Port-Mis)

 

④ Verification and Refund

 

After verifying application and evidence documents as submitted by each shipping company, discount (for port entry/leave fee) will be returned to ships that slow-steamed* for no less than 60%. (During December 2019, each slow-steaming case will be subject to discount) * Exception:  1. When ships temporarily stop while sailing in the Area 2. When 5-minute average speed within the Area exceeds 150% of the recommended speed for 2 times and more 3. Intentionally declaring the arrival time late etc.