Last week, Minister for Climate and Energy Rob Jetten briefed Dutch Parliament on his plans to achieve sixty per cent CO2 reduction by 2030. The Royal Association of Netherlands Shipowners (KVNR) particularly welcomes the EUR 111.3 million earmarked for scaling up innovative sustainable propulsion technologies for oceangoing ships.
According to the plans, this amount will be spent in increments of EUR 18.5 million per year from 2025 to 2030.
The plan is expressly aimed at scaling up innovative sustainable propulsion technologies for oceangoing ships. According to the KVNR, this fits perfectly with the Maritime Master Plan for climate-neutral ships that may start earlier. In that master plan, the focus is on developing and demonstrating propulsion technologies in practice.
With both plans, the Dutch maritime cluster could join the global top of maritime sustainability, says the shipowners’ association. The concrete objective is that by 2030, dozens of climate-neutral seagoing vessels owned by Dutch shipowners will already be sailing.
Also read: Van Oord takes home KVNR Shipping Award for LNG-powered dredgers
Scaling-up plans
It is the first time that the government has come up with such a large amount of money to make seagoing vessels more sustainable. In its newsletter, the KVNR states that ‘it is a very nice step that with this, the government chooses to encourage the sustainability of shipping, despite the fact that shipping does not fall under the national emissions target.’
Details on the scaling-up plans are still lacking and will have to be worked out further, but the KVNR welcomes their development. In addition, the availability and affordability of alternative fuels are also crucial.
Also read: KVNR: Impending shortage of renewable fuels will affect shipping
More money for shore power
Additionally, EUR 40 million has been set aside to expand shore power facilities in Dutch ports. This is in addition to the EUR 150 million previously announced.
Picture by Roberto Venturini.
Also read: KVNR: European carbon pricing proposal ineffective
