Sustainable Retrofitting and Conversion of Passenger Ships

The State of Berlin's funding program is aimed at privately organised companies that own passenger ships commercially used in inland navigation, particularly on Berlin's waterways. The aim is to improve air quality in Berlin and promote acceptance of emission-reducing measures.

The funding program supports measures to reduce air pollutant emissions from passenger ships through the retrofitting of diesel engines with exhaust gas aftertreatment systems (ANS) and the conversion to purely battery-electric or electric-diesel hybrid drives. This contributes to improving air quality and reducing noise emissions.

Funding is provided as a non-repayable grant. The funding amount varies depending on the applicability of the De minimis Regulation or the General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER) and the company size. Projects are supported as co-financing.

Funding is tied to specific conditions, including the commercial use of the ship on Berlin's waterways, the existence of a valid certificate of navigability, and for electric drives, a suitable shore power connection. Additionally, state aid regulations such as the De minimis Regulation or the GBER must be observed.

The application must be submitted in writing to the Senate Department for Environment, Mobility, Consumer and Climate Protection. Approval is granted at the discretion of the authority and within the framework of available budget funds. For funding priorities 1 and 2, the date of receipt of the complete application is decisive, while for priority 3, an idea competition following a public call is planned.

Funding is based on the "Guideline for the Promotion of Sustainable Retrofitting and Conversion of Passenger Ships 2022/23" of the State of Berlin. In addition, the State Budget Code and EU state aid regulations such as the De minimis Regulation and the General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER) apply.