Shipping: Exhaust Emissions

(asked on 20th November 2014) - View Source

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 27 October 2014 to Question 211928, which ferry routes from the UK are deemed to be vulnerable as a result of the introduction of new international and European Union sulphur regimes.


Answered by
John Hayes Portrait
John Hayes
This question was answered on 26th November 2014

In July 2014, the Government’s support for shipowners and ports was successful in securing €29.5m of EU assistance under the TEN-T programme. All the projects received the full amount that they bid for. They are:

· €10m - Pilot project to deploy hybrid scrubber technology. (P&O with ports of Dover / Calais / Hull / Rotterdam)

· €2.5m – Deployment of hybrid scrubbers. (DFDS with ports of Immingham / Gothenburg)

· €4.3m – Trial of Liquefied Natural Gas bunkering in Teesport. (Teesport and consortium)

· €12.7m – Retrofitting a ship with LNG engines and developing port infrastructure. (Portsmouth with Brittany Ferries, port of Caen and Zeebrugge).

Ultimately, operators will make commercial decisions. The Government is aware that there are ferry routes which industry considers are vulnerable, but this information is commercially sensitive. We are exploring with the European Commission whether a ferry route which is deemed to be vulnerable as a result of the new sulphur requirements could receive State Aid – and, if so, the parameters on which it could do so. Those discussions are ongoing.

I have had two exchanges of letters with Keith Brown MSP, Minister for Transport and Veterans, concerning the future of the Rosyth – Zeebrugge freight service and the options that were being considered. We both recognised that issues around State Aid would significantly restrict domestic support and I confirmed that we had written to the Commission about the provision of State Aid. I assured Mr Brown that the UK would continue to support applications for EU funding to assist eligible projects that helped mitigate the impact of the Directive.

The aim of providing assistance would be to help secure existing routes, which in turn, should help to secure employment. Any domestic funds that we provide to industry will need to provide value for money to the taxpayer and avoid distortions in a competitive market. However, there would be no direct link between these funds and the provision of employment and training for UK seafarers. This is already provided for separately, through the training requirements of the tonnage tax regime and through our Support for Maritime Training (SMarT) funding which we increased by 25% last year to £15m.

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