On Friday, 7 April 2023, Tallink Grupp’s shuttle vessel Megastar started using high voltage shore connection facilities at the Port of Helsinki West Harbour while the vessel is berthed at the quayside overnight between departures, according to the company's release.
Shore power is now used by Tallink Grupp’s vessels at the ports of Stockholm, Tallinn and Helsinki, which means fewer GHG emissions, and less noise emitted by the company’s vessels during their port stays in all the region’s major capitals.
The Port of Stockholm was the first port in the company’s key home markets to upgrade its port infrastructure and complete the build of the high voltage shore-power connection dispensers, with Tallink Grupp’s vessels Silja Symphony and Silja Serenade being the first ships to be retrofitted with the respective EU standard-compliant shore-power plugs and connected to the on-shore facility at Stockholm in June 2019. Port of Tallinn quickly followed suit in autumn 2020 with five of its quays fitted with the necessary shore connection facilities and Tallink Grupp’s vessels Victoria I and Baltic Queen plugged into shore power. Port of Helsinki ports Olympia Terminal and West Harbour have been the last to finish their shore connection construction projects with Olympia launching its HVSC facilities in August 2021 and vessels arriving at the West Harbour plugging in to use shore power last week.
Tallink shuttle vessels Megastar and MyStar are now using shore power during their overnight stays at the ports of Helsinki and Tallinn respectively. Tallink cruise ferry Baltic Queen is currently using shore power at the ports of Tallinn and Stockholm during her daytime port stays, and the company’s cruise ferries Silja Serenade and Silja Symphony are connected to shore power during their daytime port stays at the ports of Stockholm and Helsinki Olympia Terminal.
The company estimates that connecting the vessels to shore power facilities during their longer port stays reduces CO2 emissions of the company’s shuttle vessels MyStar and Megastar by 112 tons per month (1344 tons of CO2 per annum). Being connected to shore power enables the company’s cruise vessel Baltic Queen to save 95 tons of CO2 per month* (1140 tons of CO2 per annum) and cruise vessels Silja Symphony and Silja Serenade to save 156 tons of CO2 per month (1872 tons of CO2 per annum). All five vessels using shore power during their longer port stays means that the company is reducing its CO2 emissions as a result by a whopping 7572 tons per year.
The ports of Tallinn, Helsinki, Stockholm and Turku signed a memorandum of understanding on a common approach to on-shore power supply for vessels in September 2016. With the memorandum, the Port of Tallinn, Port of Helsinki, Ports of Stockholm and Port of Turku set a common approach to as well as informed shipowners about the principles and standards governing electricity connections for ships in the future. The ports agreed to provide new connections with a voltage of 11 kilovolts and a frequency of 50 hertz.
AS Tallink Grupp is one of the leading providers of passenger and cargo transport services in the northern Baltic Sea region. The company’s fleet consists of 15 vessels and the company operates various routes under the brands of Tallink and Silja Line. Tallink Grupp’s shares are listed on the Nasdaq Tallinn Stock Exchange and Nasdaq Helsinki Stock Exchange.