Aerial view of the Oslo Port, where two projects aimed at improving efficiency and promoting the green transition have received grants.
Photo: Søhus / Oslo Havn.
The Norwegian government has announced that nine projects will receive NOK 155 million in investment for more efficient and environmentally friendly ports in the country. Specifically, the funds are intended to contribute to better logistics and lower emissions at these ports.
"The government wants to strengthen the coast and maritime transport. Government support for investments in port infrastructure is crucial for realizing good projects that otherwise would not have been carried out," said the Norwegian Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, Marianne Sivertsen Næss.
"Efficient and environmentally friendly ports are important for businesses that depend on safe and efficient transport to and from the market," she added.
This investment follows the NOK 85.2 million announced two weeks ago to strengthen Norwegian coastal infrastructure and support the country's fishing industry, which in that case went to eleven municipal fishing port projects also distributed throughout Norway.
The Norwegian Coastal Administration has been managing the subsidy scheme for efficient and environmentally friendly ports since it started in 2019. The Ministry of Fisheries and Oceans explained that this grant scheme can co-finance investments in port infrastructure, access infrastructure, and dredging, in short, measures that often cannot be carried out without state support.
The program provides financial support for investments in both physical infrastructure and digital solutions and, as mentioned, aims to promote the green transition in the transport sector and strengthen the role of shipping in the national transport system.
Grants may cover up to 80% of eligible costs, limited to what is necessary to carry out the project. In addition, supported port facilities must be accessible to the public.
Although in this case the investment does not affect the fishing activity directly, the improvements do benefit the seafood industry because, although a large part of Norwegian seafood exports are made by air - especially in the case of salmon - many others are made by ship, as is often the case with salted and dried cod which, as a spokesman for the Norwegian Seafood Council explained to The Logistics World, is shipped in refrigerated containers and then stored in cold storage before sales.
For this year's allocation, as of February 26, when the application deadline passed, 19 applications had been submitted, totaling more than NOK 300 million. After a thorough evaluation of these 19 projects, the Norwegian Coastal Administration has selected 9 that will receive funding of NOK 155 million.
The Ministry explained that the supported projects are distributed throughout most of the country and include, among other things, digitalization, modernization of docks, improvement of access roads, and dredging to reduce waiting times and increase capacity.
The ports that will benefit from this grant will be the port of Harstad, the port of Bodø, the port of Uthaug in the municipality of Ørland, the Føresvik pier in Bokn, the port of Kristiansand, the port of Moss, two projects in the port of Oslo, and one more at the Yilport Oslo terminal.
Finally, the Norwegian Ministry of Trade and Fisheries highlighted that in the National Transport Plan 2025-2026, the government announced that the subsidy program will be revised to further align it with the green transition objectives, and therefore, during the plan period, proposes to allocate NOK 125 million annually to the program.