Photo: Port Everglades/Facebook
Exciting sustainability and tech innovations are coming at ports all around the world. In the future, we’ll see more and more ports operating drones, using zero-emission machines for their routine operations, and providing enough electricity for all vessels, as they dock. Florida’s Port Everglades is one of the latest to join the fun.
A new wave of electrification is transforming ports all over the world. The small ones should be able to act as charging stations for all types of electric watercraft, while the huge ones that welcome the behemoths of the oceans on a daily basis should help them cut emissions down to zero when docked. There’s only one answer for that – shore power.
Port Everglades officials say that electrification has been on the table since 2009, but it took a while to actually get there. Finally, a real project will start moving things in the right direction. In just a few years, the Port will get shore power for all of its eight cruise terminals.
The numbers sound good: the future infrastructure will be able to deliver up to 16 MW of electricity at the same time to each of the cruise terminals. When fully implemented, this would lower NOx and SO2 emissions by 75% and 51%, respectively. As for CO2, the electrification plan could prevent 11,366 metric tons of it from reaching the atmosphere. According to the project, this would be the equivalent of removing 2,470 cars off the road each year.
It’s crazy to think that these numbers have nothing to do with the movement of the ships, but with what happens when they’re docked. During those times, cruise ships are responsible for significant air pollution levels, simply because they’re using their engines to run all of the onboard systems. Instead, if they get access to the local power grid wherever they dock, cruise ships could simply turn off the engines and still operate as usual.
Port Everglades is still in the early stages of development, when it comes to shore power. So far, it has completed the study for this large-scale project, and plans to kick off construction by the middle of 2024.
As for the money, it’s coming from multiple sources, including federal and state grant funds, local funds, but also from the cruise lines that are part of the project. These are Carnival Corporation, Disney Cruise Line, and the Royal Caribbean Group, which have also contributed to the initial study, together with FPL (Florida Power & Light).
Each cruise terminal will require around $20 million, bringing the total cost of the shore power project to $160 million. And it won’t happen overnight. Port Everglades will be working on each terminal and hopefully get things done by 2027.
Port Everglades officials say that electrification has been on the table since 2009, but it took a while to actually get there. Finally, a real project will start moving things in the right direction. In just a few years, the Port will get shore power for all of its eight cruise terminals.
The numbers sound good: the future infrastructure will be able to deliver up to 16 MW of electricity at the same time to each of the cruise terminals. When fully implemented, this would lower NOx and SO2 emissions by 75% and 51%, respectively. As for CO2, the electrification plan could prevent 11,366 metric tons of it from reaching the atmosphere. According to the project, this would be the equivalent of removing 2,470 cars off the road each year.
It’s crazy to think that these numbers have nothing to do with the movement of the ships, but with what happens when they’re docked. During those times, cruise ships are responsible for significant air pollution levels, simply because they’re using their engines to run all of the onboard systems. Instead, if they get access to the local power grid wherever they dock, cruise ships could simply turn off the engines and still operate as usual.
Port Everglades is still in the early stages of development, when it comes to shore power. So far, it has completed the study for this large-scale project, and plans to kick off construction by the middle of 2024.
As for the money, it’s coming from multiple sources, including federal and state grant funds, local funds, but also from the cruise lines that are part of the project. These are Carnival Corporation, Disney Cruise Line, and the Royal Caribbean Group, which have also contributed to the initial study, together with FPL (Florida Power & Light).
Each cruise terminal will require around $20 million, bringing the total cost of the shore power project to $160 million. And it won’t happen overnight. Port Everglades will be working on each terminal and hopefully get things done by 2027.
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