U.S. West Coast cold ironing costs as high as $1.7m per vessel
Attendees at the Port of Long Beach Shore Power Summit on Monday have been told that millions of dollars are being spent on the technology, also known as cold ironing, in preparation for new rules designed to cut at berth emissions.
From January 1, 2014, California Air Resources Board (CARB) regulations mean that instead of running diesel engines while at berth, vessel operators must "plug in" and use shore-side power for half of all their cargo container, cruise, and reefer vessels.
In his opening comments at the summit, City of Long Beach Mayor Bob Foster said: "Plugging in a typical containership for a day ... is the pollution equivalent of taking 33,000 cars off the road."
The regulations will apply in San Diego, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Port Hueneme, San Francisco, and Oakland.
The Port says it has spent $100 million on dockside power hookups, while one shipper at the event, Matson Navigation Company, Inc. (Matson), said it has already spent $14 million retrofitting its fleet at an average cost of $1.7 million per vessel.
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