US ports to use green cash for shore power
The Environmental Protection Agency is handing out $3bn in grants as part of its Clean Ports Program
Key US ports such as New York and New Jersey, Los Angeles and Savannah all intend to use their grants to install shore power
LOS Angeles, Virginia and New York and New Jersey are the biggest winners from the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Ports Program grants.
The three majors will net more than $1bn in grants, or more than a third of the total available to US ports.
US President Biden, speaking at the Dundalk Marine Terminal in Baltimore, said he was “proud to announce $3bn in funding from my Inflation Reduction Act, to clean up and modernise ports from 27 different states and territories”.
“For too long, they have run on fossil fuels and aging infrastructure, putting workers at risk and exposing nearby communities to dangerous pollution,” Biden said.
“Studies show more childhood asthma, lung disease and heart disease and cancer in folks who live close to the ports. It is about environmental justice.”
High on the agenda for many ports is shore power, with 15 of the 55 selected projects highlighting it as an area of focus.
Los Angeles, New York and New Jersey and Corpus Christi will all use some of their grants for shore power, meaning three of the top five US ports by tonnage will install some form of shore power through the scheme.
The importance of cold ironing was highlighted in a recent report published by the International Council on Clean Transportation.
ICCT calculated that at-berth vessels emitted 26,800 tonnes of air pollutants in 2019 (used to avoid any Covid-induced distortion). Crucially, the report found that 21m people lived within five nautical miles of the 129 ports studies and had a household income below the national median.
For context, the US Environmental Protection Agency calculates that a total 39m Americans live within three miles of a port.
The cruise terminal at Brooklyn is the only one with shore power installed in the New York City port group, despite the city council voting to require cruise ships to connect while at berth earlier this year.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has confirmed it will use a portion of its $344m to install vessel shore power, as well as electric cargo-handling equipment.
Corpus Christi, which was awarded $105m by the EPA, said it would retrofit an existing dock with shore power, as well as increase three zero-emission tugs’ range of electric cargo-handling equipment. In total, Corpus Christi (the US’ third-biggest port by tonnage handled) said the equipment deployed as a result of the grant will save 186 tonnes of NOx, 650 tonnes of CO2 and 800,000 gallons of diesel every year.
By far the biggest recipient of EPA funds was the port of Los Angeles, which will receive $411.6m. Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass said funding means “the nation’s busiest port will be able to continue to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve air quality”.
The port will use its grant to install shore power at the port’s automobile terminal operated by Wallenius Wilhelmsen, plus more than 500 pieces of battery electric cargo-handling equipment, such as yard tractors and top handlers.
A lack of shore power caused an extra 1.4m tonnes of CO2 and 27,000 tonnes or air pollutants in 2019, according to Automatic Identification System tracker data and the ICCT’s Systematic Assessment of Vessel Emissions model.
Both New York and Los Angeles were considered “priority 1” by the ICCT report in terms of installing shore power. This new EPA funding looks as if it will deliver shore power (at least partially) at both ports.