Cruises visit Halifax daily for much of the year, and each of them throws the number of people from a city (and the contamination of a city) while they are docked in the port.
“At some point, you know, only a blue smoke cloud will float over the three or four blocks around the port,” said Brent Dancey, director of Marine Climate Action of the Oceans North Conservation Group.
The neighbors have complained about it in halifax and other Canadian cities, Like San Juan.
There is a solution: connect the ship to the local network through a connection known as coastal energy, so that you do not have to continue burning fuel to feed the ship while it is docked.
Here is more closely to this technology, its potential impacts and what that means for countries that have recently been accelerated. Expansion of the Port of Montreal and Expansion proposed in Churchill, Man.
What exactly is coastal energy?
The ships burn heavy foulail and marine diesel, producing hazardous pollutants such as fine particles and greenhouse gases.
In addition to propellating the ship, the burning of fuel generates the electricity necessary to maintain a cruise with capacity for 5,000 passengers or cool the full charge of perishable goods of a boring ship.
That means that the ships continue to contaminate while they are in the port, unless they have access to energy on land, to a source of electricity on land and the infrastructure that allows the ship to connect to it.
Of course, to use land energy, the ships themselves must also be equipped with the appropriate connections.
Why would the ports want the ships to connect?
The most obvious benefit is the reduction of harmful pollution: Dancey said this is what initially motivated the nebula Los Angeles to install coastal energy for cruises.
Coastal energy is also a simple way to reduce the climate impact of the shipping industry, which generates three percent of world greenhouse gas emissions. That is one of the reasons why it is becoming Mandatory in jurisdictions such as the European Union..
Some companies have found a unique way to reduce their carbon footprint importing products using a cargo ship, one of which recently stopped in the city of Quebec.
Canada can be receiving the ‘dirty ships’
Oceans North recently launched a Summary of research on the state of coastal energy in Canada.. He found that until now, four of Canada’s 17 port authorities have some energy on land, whose installation was financed with federal funds: Vancouver, Prince Rupert, Montreal and Halifax.
It is available for cruise ships and boring ships, for which there are international standards that guarantee that ships and ports have compatible connectors worldwide.
Until now, says Dancey, “we really don’t have so much coverage” in terms of number of bingers and terminals that support energy on land.
For example, the Halifax port installed a cruise system in 2014 that can accommodate Just one ship at the same timealthough he receives up to five ships a day during the cruise season.
Other important ports in the world, such as Long Beach, Hamburg and Shanghai, have an “almost universal” coverage in cruise and container terminals, according to the North Oceans report.
Dancey said that until now, only a fraction of world fleets can use land energy, and those ships will be attracted to the ports that offer it.
“What it means is that, you know, we [Canada] Get the dirty ships and the port of Los Angeles will obtain the cleanest ships. “
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The ships do not always connect to Canada’s coastal power grid
Dancey said that in Canada, even when there is energy on land available, ships do not always connect.
Miako Ushio, director of Environmental Affairs of the Canada Naviera Federation, said that sometimes the ship simply does not align with a particular dock exactly how it is needed to connect and be able to load and download safely.
Hugo Daniel is a doctoral student who investigates coastal energy at Sherbrooke University. He said that it may also be that the cost of burning fuel is less than that of connecting to electricity at a given time, and that there are not enough incentives to connect, such as discounts on port rates.
Slocombe said Prince Rupert currently aims to get coastal energy to reach the equilibrium point compared to not using it. “The benefits are really environmental,” he added.
Since 2023, only 15 countertops have docked Prince Rupert, but this year there has been a rebound. Around 150 to 175 people visit the port every year.
California, Europe and Porcelain They have regulations that require the ships to connect if they can.
Transport Canada confirmed to CBC News that Canada does not.
Most coastal energy facilities in Canada have been greatly financed by the federal government: only the installation of Prince Rupert received 7.6 million dollars.
Given the millions of Canadian taxpayers who have invested in coastal energy, Dancey said, “not forcing ships to plug is not really beneficial for Canadians.”
But Transport Canada wrote: “The greatest use of coastal energy faces challenges that national regulations would not address, including, for example, the capacity of national electrical networks to avoid local power cuts due to the greater use of coastal energy.”
Coastal energy is a key component of the ports of the future
Coastal energy regulations are increasing in other parts of the world.
The EU Require that the ships connect to the coastal network. or “alternative technologies of zero emissions” in most of the main ports of the EU from 2030 and in all EU ports equipped with terrestrial energy by 2035.
It is expected that the port terminal of Contreoeur, one of the five megaprojects of “national construction” prioritized by the federal government, generates important economic benefits. Some argue that it will also have a significant cost, and do not refer only to its price of 2.3 billion dollars.
Recently, California expanded the land requirements on land beyond the cruise ships and the container ships to the refrigerated loading and car transport ships throughout the state, as well as the tankers in the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
Currently, Daniel is part of a working group of the International Electrotechnical Commission to develop land energy standards for other types of ships, especially bulkters for goods such as grains or minerals.
Meanwhile, the international maritime organization has set the objective of making the shipping industry zero net for 2050 and establish emission standards for ships,
The federal government recently accelerated a Expansion of the Port of Montreal.
At a press conference last week, Julien Baudry, vice president of Communications of the Port Authority of Montreal, promised that “all ships that can scale in that terminal will have access to energy on land.”
Daniel said that most containers and cruises that arrive in Montreal will have compatibility with terrestrial energy due to EU regulations. Installing coastal energy or preparing it during the construction of the port or important modernizations, he added, it is much cheaper than trying to install it later.
The federal government has also said The improvement of the port of Churchill is of interest.. The North Oceans report suggests that coastal energy should also take into account. Dancey said it is something that Canadian ports will have to offer to remain competitive.
“We really have to invest in the construction of the port of the future, which means having a supply of renewable electricity in these ports.”
