Ports of the world look to Sweden to reduce their environmental impact
If all the vessels in the world shut down their engines when moored and instead used a shoreside electric power supply - also known as 'cold ironing' - emissions from shipping would fall substantially. The Port of Göteborg is one of the world leaders when it comes to shoreside electric power connection. The Port will now draft part of an international climate declaration.
Thirteen of the largest ports in the world, including the Port of Göteborg, have joined forces to do something concrete about climate change. In July, the ports will come together at a conference in Rotterdam to sign a climate declaration. The declaration will be made up of five sub-documents and the Port of Göteborg has been entrusted with the task of preparing the document related to shoreside electricity supply.
"It is quite an honour that the Port of Göteborg has been given such a prominent role in this collaboration and even more so in the light of the fact that we are much smaller than the other ports," says CEO Magnus Kårestedt. "We have been presented with a unique opportunity to assist the ports of the world in reducing their environmental impact."
The work on the document that will be presented to the climate conference will commence during the spring. It is vital to secure acceptance of the proposals in advance and the port's principal dialogue partner is the Port of Los Angeles, which has also made considerable progress in this area.
Connecting the vessels to a shoreside electricity supply would result in significant environmental gains. In Göteborg, carbon dioxide emissions deriving from shipping would be reduced by 10 per cent if all vessels had access to an electricity supply in the ro/ro terminal, assuming that the electricity is environmentally labelled. The reduction in sulphur oxide and nitric oxide emissions would be even greater - around 95 per cent.
"It is a matter of awakening the interest of more operators. One factor that will probably hasten the expansion of shoreside electricity supply is an EU requirement, which will come into effect in 2010, stipulating that vessels must operate using cleaner and thus more expensive port diesel. Connecting up to an electricity supply would then be more profitable for the shipowners," says Magnus Kårestedt.
Other parts of the climate declaration will deal with how the ports can work with environmentally differentiated charges for the vessels (being prepared by the Port of Rotterdam) and using environmentally correct machinery and equipment (being prepared by the Port of New York).
This environmental conference for the ports of the world will take place on July 9-11 in Rotterdam. The 14 ports that will be involved initially in this collaboration are Shanghai, Santos, Melbourne, Singapore, Tokyo, New York and New Jersey, Houston, Los Angeles, Hamburg, Antwerp, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Dubai and Göteborg. More ports and other interested bodies will be invited to the conference and offered the opportunity to sign the declaration.