Incheon Port Authority (IPA) announced on the 31st that it will implement the 5th year of the 'Vessel Speed Reduction Program (VSR)' to reduce fine dust emissions from ships.
VSR is a system that provides incentives by reducing port fees by 15-30% within the budget range (a total of 500 million KRW) if the target vessels operate at a reduced speed of 10-12 knots from 20 nautical miles before entering Incheon Port.
The target vessels are foreign vessels over 3,000 tons among container ships, LNG carriers, car carriers, and semi-container ships that comply with the recommended speed in the Incheon Port slow-speed navigation area.
According to IPA, the participation rate among target vessels has increased every year since Incheon Port first introduced VSR in 2019 (1st year), with 31% in 2019, 63% in 2021, 67% in 2022, and 68% last year.
An IPA official said, "According to research by the International Maritime Organization, reducing ship speed by 20% decreases fuel consumption by 49%, so we can expect VSR to have an effect on reducing fine dust. Since the reduction rate is increased by 10 percentage points for vessels participating during the seasonal management period, we hope for active participation from the port industry."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
