North Sea Port provides shore-side power for inland waterway vessels
North Sea Port provides shore-side power for inland waterway vessels. With the addition of two new shore-based power units in Ghent, shore-side power is now available in Terneuzen and Ghent. North Sea Port is thereby taking further steps to improve air quality in the port, the company said in its release.
The shore-based power units for inland waterway vessels are a first for Ghent. Two units have been installed at the Sifferdok’s inlet dock, and each charging point has four sockets which vessels can plug into. These shore-based power units were officially commissioned on Friday 1 March.
A further two shore-based power units will be installed in Terneuzen in March, at the recently renovated Beurtvaartkade. One serves inland waterway vessels, and the other can also be used by river cruise ships. This means that by the end of the spring, North Sea Port will have a total of 23 shore-based power units offering a total of 80 connection points.
The shore-side power available in Ghent and Terneuzen is 100% renewable. The feasibility of providing shore-side power in Vlissingen in the future is currently being investigated.
The shore-side power units allow inland waterway vessels to shut down their diesel engines and to take electricity from the shore instead. By doing so, the vessel is ensuring better air quality in the port and the surrounding areas, as well as reducing CO2 and dust emissions, and noise.
It is easy for inland waterway vessels to take shore-side power. All they have to do is register on a single website, and this will allow them to take shore-side power from all the units between Terneuzen and Ghent.
Inland waterway shipping is of major importance for North Sea Port. Almost half of the goods traffic between the port and the hinterland crosses the water in inland waterway vessels. North Sea Port is therefore making further efforts to make inland waterway shipping more sustainable and more user-friendly, and providing shore-based power forms part of this.
That is why North Sea Port decided to join CLINSH (Clean Inland Shipping). Partners from the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and the United Kingdom are working together to improve air quality in urban areas by reducing air emissions in inland waterway shipping. This is in keeping with the ‘Declaration of Nijmegen’, which North Sea Port, along with the Dutch Minister of Infrastructure and Water Management and the inland waterway shipping sector, signed on 12 April 2018. North Sea Port is also responding to the call in Flanders, the Netherlands, Belgium and elsewhere in Europe to do more to improve the climate.
North Sea Port invested a total of 480,000 euros in the two shore-based power units in Ghent and the two in Terneuzen. For the units in Ghent, North Sea Port received European grants as part of the LIFE Clean Inland Shipping project (CLINSH).