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The
Swedish port has become a source of regional
admiration. The Maritime Institute in Gdansk
(MIG) in its recent report on Gdansk becoming
a container hub for the Baltic, said some
of the best practices can be copied from
Gothenburg's Railport Scandinavia shuttle.
While
many in shipping see low-sulphur fuel mandates
from the UN and EU as an enormous cost factor,
increasing fuel prices 60 per cent in the
Baltic, English Channel and North Sea, not
so the Port of Gothenburg.
Before
the oil price plunge, the low-sulphur mandate
was expected to wipe out a rival seagoing
trade to Sweden's northern lumber yards
and steel mills because it will be far too
costly to have ships go north empty.
Even
before oil price plunge nullified the once
supposed drastic cost increases imposed
by the low-sulphur fuel mandate, Gothenburg
saw a silver lining in that rising shipping
costs on the Baltic would drive forest products
to the seaport by rail.
While
that did not work out exactly as planned,
Mr Sundmark said: "Due to new services
and improvements, "we have been successful
attracting new forest products to Gothenburg".
"The
main reason is the improved service possibilities
so far. If oil price levels are increased
again we assume that it will be to our advantage
since we can offer the services required.
"We
have the capacity for growth, a great infrastructure
and a strong vessel network with intra-European
and overseas destinations," said Mr
Sundmark.
An
added bon-bon is Gothenburg's environmental
discount which has been in effect all year.
"We will use two different environmental
indexes as a basis for the reward system
- Environmental Ship Index (ESI) and Clean
Shipping Index (CSI)," said the statement
from the port.
"In
our new Port Tariff for 2015, ships that
are classified according to ESI and which
have 30 points or more will receive a 10
per cent discount (based on GT). Ships that
achieve green standard according to CSI
will receive a 10 per cent discount (based
on GT)," it said.
"In
addition, there will be a discount for ships
that switch to LNG. They will receive a
20 per cent discount on the Port Tariff
through to December 2018. The Port of Gothenburg
has for a long time believed and invested
in LNG as the marine fuel of the future,
a focus that has now received increased
support from the EU," said the port
statement.
Yet
another reason to consider a Gothenburg
call.
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