Discount for “green ships” and cabotage is extended in Santos

The Santos Port Authority (APS) announced the extension, for another 120 days, of the discount on the tariff charged to so-called “green ships” and vessels with greater frequency at the Port of Santos. The tariff benefit has been granted since 2023 and the extension comes into force on June 10th.

Discounts for green ships are applied to vessels that have registration and a positive score in the Environmental Ship Index (ESI), of the World Maritime Organization (IMO), and can reach 15%. They apply to the use of waterway access infrastructure, charged per deadweight tonnage of the vessel.

Discounts for ships with higher frequency, according to APS, are granted based on the history of calls in the 12 months prior to the month of docking, to be applied to item 2 of Table 1 of Waterway Access Infrastructure, considering the differentiation between long-haul vessels and coastal vessels.

Long-distance ships can have a discount of up to 55%, and cabotage ships can have a discount of up to 60% (in both cases, when there are 48 or more calls in Santos).

According to APS, the Port of Santos seeks to lead the energy transition in the national waterway sector. The application of discounts for more environmentally efficient ships is one of the levers of APS’s effort to combat climate risk.

The maritime sector accounts for 80% of world trade and 3% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, according to IMO data. In this context, the transformation of ports is considered fundamental to achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement (international treaty adopted in 2015 to reduce GHG emissions in order to limit the increase in temperature to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels).