Hamburg port offers cost relief for large-sized ships
The State Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Hamburg Port Authority (HPA) and the port industry were responding to the continuing restrictions that apply to passages on the River Elbe, Cargonews Asia reports.
The aim is to strengthen the competitiveness of the Port of Hamburg in view of the decision on the channel adjustment rendered by the federal administrative court in Leipzig.
As a response to the challenging situation on international shipping markets, terminal operators in particular granted shipping lines substantial discounts in the past years. On top of that, in 2013 the Hamburg Port Authority and port service providers will offer international shipping the following discounts and rebates.
1. Port fees/exceptionally large vessel discount: The port fees for container ships will still be capped at 110,000 GT. For exceptionally large ships an additional discount will be introduced, lowering port fees by approximately 6 percent and 12 percent respectively (discount for ships – 360m in length: $1,972; discount for ships – 390m in length: $3,945.
2. Port fees/transhipment rebate: The port fee rebate already planned to be granted for transhipment containers will be retained; it will however be advanced to April 1 and increased by 20 percent.
3. Port fees/environmental ship index: For ships with a particularly good environmental performance (ESI score > 50) the discount cap will be increased by a good 30 percent, from $1,972 to $2639. The additional ESI discount is specifically geared towards newly launched ultra large container ships (ULCS).
4. Port fees/annual adjustment: The periodic adjustment of the port fees to rising port operation costs – the increase planned for 2013 is 1.9 percent – will not be introduced on January 1 as previously scheduled, but postponed to April 1; this is equivalent to a 25 percent reduction of the increase.
5. Other measures: Port service providers will complement the a.m. measures within the means of their disposal. Talks are being held with the Waterways and Shipping Administration/Directorate North [WSD Nord] concerning a capping of pilotage fees and charges at 110,000 GT for the passage on the River Elbe.
6. Vessel traffic management on the River Elbe: Vessel traffic management on the River Elbe and in the port of Hamburg will focus even more on the requirements of exceptionally large ships. Apart from state-of-the-art traffic control technology, the core of staff needs to be sufficient to handle the rising number of calls by ships of this size. The HPA has recruited additional vessel traffic service centre staff, in particular to further improve the coordination of ship-meeting-and-passing traffic on the River Elbe.