New York/New Jersey approves US$4.9m Clean Vessel Initiative

The three year, US$4.875m Ocean-Going Vessel Clean-Vessel Incentive (CVI) programme, aims to encourage ship operators to improve engines, use cleaner fuels, and upgrade technology to reduce emissions from ocean-going vessels.

The CVI provides financial incentives to ships achieving a score of 20 points or higher based on the World Port Climate Initiative’s Environmental Ship Index (ESI). Additional points are allocated to vessels that participate in the speed-reduction program, which would reduce speed to no more than 10 knots starting 20 nautical miles from the entrance to the New York New Jersey harbour.

The port authority anticipates approximately 600 vessels a year will participate in the CVI program, resulting in annual emission reductions of 182.2 tons of nitrogen oxide, 38.3 tons of particulate matter, and 264.1 tons of sulphur dioxides.